“Union unity? There are big divisions between us and Fiom, making a joint platform won't be easy. We have very different ideas: Maduro is a dictator for us, not a comrade who makes mistakes. But we cannot even look the other way on the challenge of unity: let's reason on a unitary card for the handicraft sector, because our weakest point is precisely that of small and medium-sized enterprises. That would be an important signal." With these words, harsh but open to dialogue, the general secretary of Fim Cisl Marco Bentivogli concluded his inaugural speech at the 15th National Organizational Assembly of the Cisl metalworkers' union, a two-day event that sees the participation of over 400 delegates from all over Italy in Rome, at the Spazio Eventi Tirso.
Fim Cisl today has 209.418 members, with an increase in the enrollment of young people and immigrants, and 25.773 unionized companies (+1.150 in 2018 compared to 2017). The title chosen for the meeting is "Smart Union to Drive Change": "It's not just a slogan - commented Bentivogli - but the desire to reverse course, anticipating change, because the future depends only on us and by the choices we will make today. The growth of the Fim - continued the trade unionist - is the result of the great organizational and renewal work that the whole of the Fim has done in recent years, showing a young and combative face against defeatism and fear for technology and the future. Saying everything is bad doesn't help make things go better."
Before Bentivogli, the national secretary Valerio D'Alò also spoke, illustrating the organizational data of the Cisl metalworkers relating to the four-year period 2015-2018: "Data that show a Fim in health, despite the period of crisis and the many companies that have resorted to social safety nets in these 4 years. Our union has been the protagonist in recent years of the largest industrial disputes in the country, many of which are exploding again in recent months such as: the former Ilva, former Alcoa, Whirlpool. A worrying sign – added D'Alò – of how this executive is not dealing with work and industry. For this reason, as metalworkers, after the great mobilization of CGIL, CISL, UIL in February in Rome and that of 22 June in Reggio Calabria, last 4 June we went on strike throughout Italy together with Fiom and Uilm to put the government agenda for work and industry”.
“The pulsating force of the Fim – said the organizational secretary on stage – is given by a strong and widespread organization in all the companies in the national territory with 6.885 delegates, (of these 921 are women and 5.964 men) and a structure of 395 trade union operators in the area (of which 94 women and 301 men). Compared to 2015, operators and executives under the age of 35 doubled, sign of a constant renewal that continues. The work of our people has meant that the Fim continues in recent years to represent 209.418 members (as of December 2018), with 25.773 unionized companies. The growth of female metalworkers enrolled in the FIM is positive, representing 17.14%, as is that of foreign nationals, which stands at 14.99% of the total”.
From 2016 to June 2019, the RSUs were renewed in 2.303 companies, obtaining 113.758 votes, which led to the election of 4.294 RSUs. “The Fim – added D'Alò – is always attentive to the training of its executives and delegates, is the only category of the confederations to have a national trade union training school in Amelia: "Il Romitorio" has trained over 2.000 managers and delegates in these four years with over 8.812 hours of training". D'Alò and Bentivogli also underlined the great effort in the field of communication: "We were among the first in the union to systematically use social media and the network to communicate with members and the outside world. Tools that are even more important in this historical phase where the union must once again become an educator to keep the sirens of populism and fear for the future away from people and workers".
