In Italy, the economic crisis has led to a strong decrease in employment and increasing layoffs, especially in the construction sector. From 2008, black and irregular labour, including bogus forms of part-time and fake self-employment, have increased, as well the illegal hiring and exploitation of workers.
Filca-Cisl, the Italian Federation of construction workers, wanted to tackle these problems with an original and innovative tool: "Amico lavoro”. It is a free job-matching tool aimed at jobseekers in the entire building sector (construction, wood and furniture and building materials) and managed only by the Union, without the mediation of Public Employment Services. "Amico Lavoro” offers its services to unemployed people and also to young people accessing the labour market.
"Amico lavoro” works through info-desks, in different cities, where our union representatives make the meeting between jobseekers and employers easier, verifying the reliability of the firm and certifying the skills of the jobseeker. Not only do they help the construction workers to find a job, but they also "teach” them how to search for one: how to write a CV and describe their skills, how to improve the skills and knowledge through good training, providing also useful tools for jobseekers such as computers, the Internet, printers, magazines, etc. In fact the slogan of "Amico lavoro” is: "Who finds a friend, finds a job!”.