Download article in original language : IT0103366FIT.DOC
Italian trade unions are increasingly addressing the issue of representing their women members, and the three main confederations (Cgil, Cisl and Uil) have set up a variety of specific structures for this purpose. Here we review the various structures established within the unions and outline a number of their proposals and initiatives relating to equal opportunities made during 2000 and early 2001.
The three main Italian union confederations – the General Confederation of Italian Workers (Confederazione Generale Italiana del Lavoro, Cgil), the Italian Confederation of Workers' Unions (Confederazione Italiana Sindacati dei Lavoratori, Cisl) and the Union of Italian Workers (Unione Italiana del Lavoro, Uil) – have two main types of structures: horizontal (ie geographical) and vertical (by "category", ie sector of activity). They also have specific structures for the representation of women members. Given that gender issues concerns all sectors of membership, these structures are not organised in the form of a vertical federation, but rather horizontally at two different levels (national and local).
The Cgil women's organisations have changed over time. During the 1970s, when equality between men and women in the workplace became a key issue (the main Italian law on the matter was enacted in 1977), female labour offices were created which sought to provide protection for working women. When the equal opportunities issue again came to the fore in the 1980s, a women's coordination unit (Coordinamento delle donne) was created with Cgil. Finally, following the World Conference on Women held in Peking in 1995 - which concluded that "mainstreaming" (the incorporation of a gender perspective in every action and every political, economic and social decision) and "empowerment" (the increased power and responsibility of women at all levels) were of crucial importance for the promotion of equal opportunities - in 1998, Cgil set up a women's forum (Forum delle donne) as an arena for the devising and discussion of gender policies. The members of the forum are the women representatives on the Cgil executive committee and representatives of various self-organised women's groups within Cgil (coordination units, centres, associations and recognized work groups) at various levels (territorial and national). The women's forum meets at least three times a year. An equal opportunities department has also been created to liaise with the other sectoral and territorial structures.
During the mid-1970s, Cisl created a women's coordination unit, the activities of which have been expanded since the 1980s. For example, in 1980 it was decided to set up women's coordination units in all the confederation's structures, both central and peripheral. The women's coordination unit focuses its action on the defence and development of female employment, welfare, equal opportunities policies and the fight against discrimination and violence.
A women's coordination unit was created in Uil at the beginning of the 1980s. After initially concentrating on issues such as equal opportunities and abortion, it has latterly sought to promote a "gender culture", addressing the needs and aspirations of working women (also with reference to questions such as working hours and welfare services) and the presence of women in the unions and institutions. One of the most recent initiatives of the Uil coordination unit has been the creation of an observatory on harassment (), which opened on 7 March 2001.
As regards participation by women in the unions, the statutes of Cgil, Cisl and Uil contain anti-discrimination rules. For example, the Cgil statutes stipulate that in the formation of management bodies at various levels, "representation of neither sex may be less than 40% or more than 60%". The regulations for the Cisl congress to be held in June 2001 provide that 30% of delegates must be women.
Finally, only estimates are available on levels of unionisation among women: in 2000, around 49% of Cgil members were women, while the figure was 40% for Cisl. The trend is towards increasing levels of female union membership.
The Cgil women's forum met most recently on 21 February 2001. The main items on the agenda were bargaining and equal opportunities. According to Aitanga Giraldi, the head of Cgil's equal opportunities department, the central importance of national sectoral-level bargaining should be insisted upon, since it is national agreements that principally define the rights of women working in small firms. Also seen as important by the forum is the development of territorial bargaining on the introduction of social services for women, and the definition and implementation of working hours schedules in public services, shops etc. Action should also be taken to promote new forms of working time management like the "hours bank" system. Moreover, sexual harassment in the workplace should be combated though the introduction of collectively agreed codes of conduct, and the delegates at the February forum meeting urged the enactment of a law on the matter. As regards women's participation in the labour market, attention was called to the ambivalent nature of "atypical" work: on the one hand it seems to favour women's entry into the labour market; on the other, it reduces the protection given to female workers. Another issue addressed was continuing training, where numerous women are said to be discriminated against because of the timetables of courses and their organisation. Moreover, firms tend to make little investment in the training of "atypical" workers, given the characteristics of their employment relationship.
Within Cisl, one of the most important recent occasions for discussion of gender questions was the women's assembly (Assemblea delle donne) held in Bologna on 22 and 23 February 2000. Numerous issues were addressed, but mainly maternity, flexibility and new forms of employment: the issue of maternity is seen as part of the broader question of reconciling work and family life and the protection of women. The meeting also called for local services suited to the needs of working women. The Cisl women's coordination units have set up information bureaux on maternity and work (the information concerns parental leave, the period of compulsory leave, optional leave, etc). As regards labour flexibility, criticism was made of the perceived reluctance of many firms to introduce new models of work organisation which require a redefinition of working hours. Dissatisfaction was also expressed over company-level bargaining on these issues. Finally, atypical work was seen as raising problems in view of the weak protection given to atypical workers. In the case of women in particular, the protection of maternity was seen as especially necessary. According to Anna Maria Parente of the Cisl women's coordination unit, the issues addressed by the women's assembly should be discussed at the Cisl congress scheduled for June 2001. In the view of the Cisl national women's coordination unit, the congress should also deal with the question of the representation of women: although more and more women are joining the union confederation, the majority of its leadership consists of men. Moreover, union activities should be organised so that they correspond more closely to the time available to women, who already have to divide their time between work and the family.
On the occasion of Uil's national conference held from 10-12 May 2000, the women's coordination unit conducted a survey of a sample of women Uil members (Io, donna nella Uil, edited by A Ascenzi, MG Brinchi and R Scarpari). The results of the survey showed that women were strongly motivated to play an active role in the union. Due to the fact that the time taken up by trade union activity must be combined with that devoted to work and the family, the majority of women trade unionists dedicate a large part of their free time to union activities. Only a small number of them take advantage of the time off in lieu granted for union work. Moreover, compared with the recent past, women now tend to play a more active role in the organisation and occupy more senior positions. In fact, since the second half of the 1990s, the lapse of time between enrolment in the union and the assumption of positions of responsibility (in the executive bodies of territorial or national structures or as delegates on Rsu company-level representative bodies) has diminished. This can also be considered indicative of a greater openness in Uil to women's representation on the various structures. However, one problematic area remaining is that of training. The majority of the women interviewees considered training to be essential if they were to perform their representation work more efficiently. Yet around 60% of them had not taken part in relevant training courses in the five years prior to the survey. Training tends to take place informally, mainly through on-the-job experience and, to a lesser extent, attendance at meetings.
The actions of women's representative structures in Italian unions concentrate on two main issues. The first is women's presence in the labour market. This is an area in which changes have taken place in Italy since the beginning of the 1990s. The female employment rate has increased (although it is still lower than in many other countries), and some of the factors that weakened the labour market position of women have disappeared (for instance, gender-based differences in educational qualifications). Nevertheless, there is a danger that new forms of discrimination may arise. For example, it is widely feared that "atypical" work will produce forms of precarious employment which will create new gender-based segmentations and segregations in both career opportunities and pay. Furthermore, discrimination against women may arise in terms of participation in continuing training schemes. Finally, the difficulty of reconciling work and family life still makes it difficult for women to enter the labour market. The women's representative structures agree that collective bargaining is essential for the regulation of these matters.
The other main issue is the role of women in the unions. Despite the changes that have taken place, the unions are viewed as mainly male organisations in which women tend to be under-represented (in management structures, workplace representative bodies and collective bargaining). At issue, though, is not a redistribution of powers but rather the promotion of a "gender culture" within the trade unions. (Marco Trentini, Ires Lombardia)