Il contributo è destinato al Trattato di diritto del Lavoro diretto da M. Persiani e F. Carinci, volume secondo, Organizzazione sindacale e contrattazione collettiva, a cura di G. Proia, in corso di pubblicazione.

This paper analyzes the Italian rules of collective bargaining in public sector employment. After a brief overview of recent reforms, it takes into account the regulation of the legal representatives entitled to collective bargaining, its procedure and effectiveness and the legal rules of authentic interpretation within litigation. The A. concludes pointing out the growing gap between this discipline and that applicable to employees in private sectors, caused mainly by the impact of the increasing constraints of public expenditure control.