Over May-June 1998, Italy's Cisl trade union confederation was engaged in a major debate which ended in the relaunch of an initiative aimed at achieving union unity.
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Over May-June 1998, Italy's Cisl trade union confederation was engaged in a major debate which ended in the relaunch of an initiative aimed at achieving union unity.
On 20-21 May 1998, the Italian Confederation of Workers' Unions (Confederazione Italiana Sindacati dei Lavoratori, Cisl) one of Italy's three main trade union confederations, held an assembly in Naples. The meeting launched an extensive debate which called into question the confederation's internal unity and its relations with the other union organisations.
Sergio D'Antoni, Cisl's secretary general, expressed his support for a political campaign aimed establishing a forum bringing together "social forces" and Christian-oriented organisations. This initiative - labelled the "great Cisl" (La Grande Cisl) by the newspapers - would be in opposition to what Mr D'Antoni considered an attempt by political forces to hinder the autonomy of the social partners. To support his view, Mr D'Antoni mentioned a number of what he saw as political initiatives which reduce the room for manoeuvre and autonomy of the social partners. These include:
the proposals put forward by some parties within the parliamentary commission set up to examine reform of the Constitution, which foresee a reduced application of the "subsidiarity" principle;
the request to remove from the new Constitution the National Council for Economic Affairs and Labour (Consiglio Nazionale dell'Economia e del Lavoro, Cnel), a constitutional body made up of social partner representatives;
the bill on the reduction of the working week to 35 hours - approved in February 1998 (IT9803159N) - agreed on by the Government and Rifondazione Comunista (elements of the former Communist Party) to overcome a government crisis. This proposal does not allow social partners to negotiate freely on working time issues; and
the bill on worker representation, currently under parliamentary examination, which will probably reduce the role of the unions (IT9804226F).
According to the Cisl general secretary, all these initiatives were taken by left-oriented parties, which are apparently aiming to reduce the role of the social partners, in favour of political representation.
Participants in the debate which opened during the May Cisl assembly included: the president of Cnel, Giuseppe de Rita; the secretary general of the Partito Popolare political party, Franco Marini, who was once secretary general of Cisl; and the major of Brescia, Mino Martinazzoli, who was once secretary general of the Partito Popolare.
The following associations are involved in the new forum promoted by Mr D'Antoni: Compagnia delle Opere (an organisation of cooperatives and companies established by the Catholic-oriented group, Comunione e Liberazione); the Christian Workers' Movement (Movimento Cristiano dei Lavoratori); Confcooperative (an organisation that represents all cooperatives); Confartigianato (one of the biggest employers' associations for artisans); and the Catholic Association of Italian Workers (Associazione Cattolica dei Lavoratori Italiani, Acli).
The debate was interpreted by the majority of public opinion as an attempt to re-establish a new Christian-oriented political party of the centre aimed at replacing the old Christian Democratic Party (Democrazia Cristiana) - at present the former party's officials can be found both on the centre-left, as part of the parliamentary majority that supports the Government, and on the centre-right, among the opposition. Many journalists consider that the involvement of Cisl in this process is to be considered as an alternative to the trade union unity project (IT9707307F) among Cisl and the other two main confederations, Cgil and Uil (see the Il Sole 24 Ore newspaper of 24 May 1998)
A few days after the conclusion of the assembly, Raffaele Morese, deputy secretary general of Cisl, expressed his doubts and perplexities about Mr. D'Antoni's political initiative. He criticised the initiative and stated that Cisl should engage solely in union activities, and not in political activities. Guglielmo Epifani, deputy secretary general of Cgil, also intervened on this subject, asserting that the project of a larger Cisl is not consistent with the unitary union perspective. Adriano Musi, Uil confederal secretary, expressed similar thoughts.
The debate was temporarily closed by the meeting of the Cisl executive board on 4 June 1998. A document approved by the board reaffirms "the need for union unity through the construction of a new autonomous and democratic union able to put together and relaunch the best of the experience of Cgil, Cisl and Uil". The document also proposes calling a constituent assembly to foster union unity . Union unity is considered the only possible solution to oppose all the political forces which are seen as trying to reduce the role and the importance of the unions. The executive board document confirms the proposal for a liaison between Christian-oriented unions and lay-oriented unions in a "social forum" (Forum del sociale) aimed at promoting the role of civil society, However, it makes no reference to any Cisl commitment to launch projects having a party-political character.
Eurofound recommends citing this publication in the following way.
Eurofound (1998), Cisl relaunches trade union unity initiative, article.
