"At the fork. Work, union and representation in today's Italy”, published by Donzelli, is a well-documented, updated and problematic book that brings the debate on the union out of the Cimmerian mists of ideology, instrumental political demagoguery and operational minimalism. Its authors Mimmo Carrieri and Paolo Feltrin offer us a comparative empirical picture of the evolution of the political-organizational models that have come to define themselves in the European trade unions, with some forays into the United States, in the light of the profound changes induced by the economic crisis in the productive structure, of the labor market and welfare.
The salient fact that emerges is the significant decline in the union membership rate, albeit to different extents in the various countries and, in some cases, against an increase in members in absolute terms. The unionization rate curve in almost all European countries shows an ascending phase which culminates roughly between the beginning of the 80s and 90s when the descending parable begins, albeit with diversified trends, which continues up to the days ours when there is some slight improvement. At the basis of this trend are factors relating to the economic cycle, but above all structural changes in the labor market, the entrepreneurial system and the production organization induced by globalization and by the effects of the emergence of information and communication technology in that which the sociologist Castel defines as the "informational society".
These new arrangements are grafted onto the specificities of the individual national realities in terms of the structure of industrial relations and with regard to the institutional devices that regulate trade union action. The analysis of unionization rates in European countries shows that "the representativeness of the union is stronger where it expands its mission by extending its role to the moments, functions and services that regulate access to and exit from the market of Work". An inverse trend to that of the contractual political function, which should constitute the main axis and the identity trait of union activity and which in the perception of public opinion, supported by quantitative indicators, shows an evident decline.
This process is found in the majority of European trade unions, where the degree of institutionalization of trade union activity, through collective bargaining, is widespread and consolidated, but, surprisingly, also in Italy where the scarce effectiveness of contractual activity, above all at national level, in the production and redistribution of income, in the enhancement of professionalism and in the increase in productivity, as a fundamental element for the growth of investments and therefore of employment, has accentuated and developed the role of the trade union as a supplier of support services and of individual or collective protection. The increase in their offer meets a need for personalization of relationships and services which arises from the welfare crisis, in turn, induced by globalization and the computerization of society and the economy which is demolishing the standardized and hierarchical system of production and distribution. It is, therefore, an adaptation of trade union functions and strategies which corresponds to an objective question, but which implies a change of overall paradigm and therefore also of political-contractual activity. An imbalance of trade union policies towards service activities, accompanied by a tendency, which appeared clear, for example, in the dispute with Fiat by Landini's FIOM, with the reticent coverage of the CGIL, to transform contractual provisions into rights "moving the center of gravity of the interests of workers and pensioners from the area of union bargaining to that of legal protection" can favor and strengthen corporate tendencies, further weakening the ability to contribute to governing the processes of economic development and employment growth .
The authors describe in detail the expansion of the area and of the (quite impressive) range of services that the trade unions offer to workers, both members and not, underlining the tendency to extend the services offered also to citizens in a market logic, in the face of the manifests inadequacy of the strategies and instrumentation of negotiation at sectoral and territorial level and the heavy downsizing of the confederal role following the Government's abandonment of the method of concertation at the national level. In this regard, the fact that it takes years to renew the collective agreements of the category with economic benefits that end up equalizing the losses, or little more, due to strikes and regulatory improvements that are often far lower than those already achieved does not say anything in this regard at the company level and made obsolete by the evolution of production processes and technological innovation? It is evident that the national collective agreements of the category are not able to regulate the variety of employment relationships and of the normative and salary profiles that develop in the enterprise system and in the territory.
The company is the fulcrum of industrial relations and it is the vision of the nature and role of companies that determines their model and relationship with the social and economic system and individual and collective values and priorities. It is therefore decentralized bargaining at company and territorial level that is the center of political-negotiation activity and not the national category agreement which should, instead, shift the axis of its action towards the elaboration and promotion of general strategies in the field political-institutional. The assumption of this paradigm is that the company is not the counterpart of the trade union and the employee, but an institution that must be governed through the interaction of the subjects who belong to it in various capacities and with their own interests and therefore with of co-management and institutions of financial and organizational participation, internally when it is adequately sized or in a territorial context if small. From this point of view, the "Consolidated law on representation" elaborated by the three confederal organizations CGIL-CISL-UIL was certainly a step forward, even if it fails to make a clear choice, in favor of the company, on the levels of negotiation and, therefore , on models of representation and forms of participation and seeks to achieve a hypertrophic coexistence of all options, condemning itself to a probable paralysis that can only be avoided by a legislative provision, as required by article 39 of the Constitution. However, if one decides to put his hand to this article, one should not forget that there is also an article 40 which affirms the right to strike, but within the framework of the laws that govern it and an article 46 which provides for the establishment of management councils in companies . Ours may not be the most beautiful constitution in the world, but it cannot be said that it lacks coherence, a quality that our legislators have so far lacked. However, the abandonment of consociativism and concerted action today offers the Government, Parliament and political parties a new opportunity which even the trade unions should not give up.
In conclusion, this in-depth and, in many ways, unpublished research tells us many new things about who the trade union really is and what it does, beyond the image it has and wants to give of itself and raises questions about what the its social role and its ability to represent the interests and aspirations of the social classes to which it refers, internally and in the open field. From the extensive analysis contained in the book, it emerges that the union is developing a dual nature: that, in expansion, of a service provider and that, in decline, of political-contractual protagonist of the processes of production and redistribution of income: the mail at stake is the ability to face the effects of the transformations of the economy under the pressure of globalization, of revolution. science and technology, innovative processes, social equality, work and employment, well-being and the welfare state, the environment and health. From this point of view, it can be argued that the union is effectively at a crossroads: between becoming more and more a service structure and recovering a role of sharing and co-management, through political-contractual activity, of the economic, social and cultural changes underway It seems to me that the thesis of this book is that what could be a dangerous alternative is, instead, a great opportunity: let's hope that the union knows how to seize it.
