Twist in the union. Surprisingly, the leader of the Cisl metalworkers, Marco Bentivogli, resigned as general secretary of the Fim. “This choice – writes Bentivogli in a letter sent to the general secretary of the Cisl, Annamaria Furlan and to the general council of the Fim Cisl – it is absolutely free and meditated with myself, in the certainty that the Fim can continue its path even stronger. Don't think of any regrets or conspiracies, I've always said that you need to have as many experiences as possible to continue giving meaning to your existence, I've just turned 50 and after 25 years of Fim I think it's right to change your department in your commitment”.
“I began in 1995 to be an activist for the Fim-Cisl – adds Bentivogli in his letter – and in these 25 years I have covered all the roles and been a union member in many regions and have followed from the smallest companies to the largest groups. A formidable experience” but today the time has come to “leave room for others”.
Several times Marco Bentivogli's trade union parable has been compared to that of the his great teacher, Pierre Carniti, but unfortunately the historical and trade union contexts were different: Carniti, as leader of the metalworkers, had interlocutors in Cisl such as Bruno Storti, Luigi Macario, Franco Marini while Bentivogli found himself dealing with figures from the Confederation of no strategic and of no human thickness like Furlan and her magical lily.
His resignation is "irrevocable" but we hope that, before the Fim General Council on 6 July, he will reconsider because Marco Bentivogli is the most brilliant trade unionist, most innovative and clearly reformist that there is in Italy today, even if the CISL pretended not to notice it or noticed it too much and did everything to boycott it and perhaps it would even have arrived, at the urging of the Furlan secretariat and its lackey, to a specious commissioning of the Fim. But if they do not return, the resignation of the leader of the metalworkers of the CISL will not only be a loss for the trade union movement but for Italian democracy itself, which needs such innovative and courageous leaders like bread.
