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At its national congress held in February 2002, Cgil, Italy's largest trade union confederation, focused largely on its relationship with the centre-right government and the latter's current reform initiatives. The possibility of a general strike raised by Cgil was strong rejected by Cisl and Uil, the two other main union confederations. Sergio Cofferati was re-elected as Cgil general secretary.
From 7 to 9 February 2002, the General Confederation of Italian Workers (Confederazione Generale Italiana del Lavoro, Cgil), Italy's largest trade union confederation, held its 14th national congress in Rimini. The slogan of the congress was 'The future of rights' (Il futuro dei diritti). Congress preparations began in mid-September 2001 when around 56,000 rank-and-file assemblies were organised, followed by some 2,000 local and industry-level congresses.
Discussion at the local and sectoral congresses was based on two documents. The first, entitled 'Rights and work in Italy and Europe' (Diritti e lavoro in Italia e in Europa), expressed the majority opinion within Cgil and was undersigned by the current general secretary, Sergio Cofferati. The second, entitled 'Work and society. Changing direction' (Lavoro società . Cambiare rotta) was drafted by the minority faction within the confederation. The two documents addressed a relatively wide range of topics. The differences between them centred on the crucial issues of incomes policy and collective bargaining.
Different assessments were made of the tripartite national intersectoral agreement of 23 July 1993 which laid down the basis for Italy's current incomes policy and two-tier (national/sectoral and company/local) bargaining system (IT9803223F). The majority's document emphasised the importance of incomes policy, which had fostered the Italian economy's recovery, even though much of the sacrifice had been borne by employees and pensioners. The incomes policy had proved of great importance in combining economic growth, lower inflation and a reduced public debt, on the one hand, with fairness on the other.
According to the minority document, however, Cgil should change its strategy and abandon its policy of wage restraint, given that this has failed to protect the purchasing power of workers. Moreover, autonomy should be restored to the bargaining process by eliminating the mechanisms to curb wage growth introduced by the 1993 agreement - ie relating pay increases to the planned inflation rate in sectoral-level bargaining and to business performance in company-level bargaining. By contrast, the majority document advocated a two-level (sectoral and company) bargaining model, a position markedly at odds with that of Confindustria, the main employers' association, which has called for one of the bargaining levels to be abolished (IT0107193F).
Overall, the minority document took a more radical and combative stance than that of the majority. It was the latter that prevailed at all the congresses at various levels, receiving around 82% of delegates' votes, compared with 18% obtained by the minority document.
In practice, despite the existence of the two documents, the Cgil congress was not marked by serious internal conflict. Indicative of this is the fact that the national congress concluded with the approval of a single document, something that had not happened in 16 years. Mr Cofferati was unanimously confirmed in his post as general secretary until June 2002, when his mandate will expire.
As indicated by the congress slogan, debate in Rimini focused closely on rights. Both the opening address by Mr Cofferati and the concluding document emphasised the need for a 'globalisation' of rights, solidarity and opportunities at supranational level. As regards such matters as social and environmental clauses in world trade agreement, workers' rights, the proposed 'Tobin tax' on international financial transactions and cancellation of third world debt, Cgil intends to initiate dialogue with the anti-globalisation movement (though obviously not with its 'violent fringe'). Again at the international level, the congress repudiated war as an instrument to fight terrorism.
Much debate, of course, concerned the situation in Italy. Cgil reaffirmed the need for determined resistance against the 'neo-liberal' offensive waged by the centre-right government, which allegedly wants to reduce workers' rights and protection, to undermine state schools in favour of the private sector and to dismantle the welfare state. According to Mr Cofferati, the close linkage between the government headed by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and Confindustria has induced the former to adopt policies centred essentially on the transfer of resources from the state to businesses, and on abolishing the rights and protections of workers (IT0201277F). The proposed reform of Article 18 of the Workers' Statute- whereby some categories of employee will be entitled only to financial compensation and not reinstatement in the event of dismissal without 'just cause ' or 'justifiable reason'- is regarded as symbolic in this regard.
The government's recent adoption of 'proxy laws' (whereby parliament delegates to the government the power to legislate on a particular issue) on reform of the labour market, pensions and taxation came in for especially fierce criticism , both for their content and because of the method used. In Mr Cofferati's view, these law are anti-democratic because they enable the government to evade confrontation with the social partners.
Mr Cofferati declared that mobilisation of the unions against the government was necessary and he did not rule out the possibility of a general strike. This latter proposal provoked an angry reaction from the other trade union confederations, the Italian Confederation of Workers' Unions (Confederazione Italiana Sindacati Lavoratori, Cisl) and the Union of Italian Workers (Unione Italiana del Lavoro, Uil) (especially the former), which regard a general strike as inappropriate at the present time.
It is not surprising that the relationship between the union confederation and the government should have been at the centre of debate at the Cgil congress. Recent action by the government has concentrated on deregulating the labour market, reforming the welfare state and overhauling the pensions system, and therefore on matters traditionally of crucial importance to trade unions.
The united conclusion of the Cgil congress highlights that the difficult political situation has strengthened the confederation's internal unity. However, it seems that the split with the other two main union confederations has resumed. If these divisions are not resolved, they may weaken the union front. The differences concern not only the action to take against the government but also the unions' representative role. Besides the 'social representation' typical of unions, the stance recently adopted by Cgil has, according to some commentators, led it to undertake 'political representation': the Cgil conference, it is said, has confirmed that the union is the main player in opposition against the centre-right government. (Marco Trentini, Ires Lombardia)