The kick-off meeting of the BARMETAL project was held on 22 November 2022, in a hybrid format - in-person at the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna in Pisa and online.

The structure of the meeting smoothly followed the planned agenda.

After an overview of the consortium, the project structure and the key research objectives, all 8 work packages (WPs) of the project were presented by the the leading research teams.

In particular, the WIF representative, after presenting the CBAs dataset, urged the various research teams to collect as many CBAs as possible relating to the metal sector in the countries of interest, in order to meet the objectives of WP4 and to enrich the dataset itself.

Following this, the project objectives in terms of communication and dissemination were presented and aspects concerning project administration and management were addressed by the administrative staff of the Scuola Sant'Anna.

The workshop concluded with feedbacks from the non-academic partners and a discussion by the members of the research teams on the open issues concerning the case study selection strategy, with particular reference to the choice of the production sectors of interest, the construction of the project website and the creation of the logo, and the definition of the agenda for next meetings.

Regarding the first point, the proposal from the SSSA unit in charge of WP2 is to develop a coordinated case selection strategy among the various research teams, so as to build a research design based on the comparison across different variables and the exploration of collective bargaining dynamics along supply chains.

With regard to the choice of reference sectors, a general interest in the automotive sector emerged, but at the same time the need to include other production sub-sectors related to the metal sector in the research design.

The research team responsible for WP2 will therefore submit a proposal for the sub-sectors of interest for research to be discussed with the other research teams at a dedicated meeting to be held in the near future.

With respect to the construction of the website and the creation of the logo, WIF gave availability to provide a logo, while the website, in responsibility of the CELSI unit will be further discussed.

Finally, with regard to agenda setting, it was agreed to hold a general meeting of the various research teams about every two months, to be held on a predefined and regular day. In addition, other dedicated meetings may be convened on specific issues, to be attended by members of the research teams interested in the topic under consideration.

The consortium agreed on the following actions to take:

1. Select the sectors relevant for Collective Bargaining Agreement (WP4)
2. Define a coordinated selection strategy to define the collection of information and case study analysis (WP2 and WP3)
3. Act for project logo and website
4. Define an agenda meetings.