Lo general strike, in Italy, is becoming a seasonal event, a kind of truffle festival, which takes place according to a calendar arranged with the times of two unions: the CGIL , Uil; while the Cisl he seems to have no further interest in these muscular displays. Maurizio Landini e Pierpaolo bombers, the general secretaries of the CGIL and UIL, don't even bother to find specific reasons; it is enough for them to continue what they call - with the air of strategists - a mobilization program, consisting in the proclamation of at least one general strike and the organization of a large national demonstration in the first half of the year, to prepare for an autumn of struggle in the context of budget maneuver, when the use of a general strike seems to have now become one of the obligations required to complete the relevant bill.
If we read what they write on their sites i sindacati there is the feeling of a plan prepared in the abstract regardless of what might happen in the meantime. ''The first appointment - we read in Collettiva, the CGIL web newspaper - will be Thursday 11 April, the date chosen by CGIL and Uil for a four-hour general strike in all private sectors, eight in the construction sector, with demonstrations and territorial initiatives in support of common demands regarding health and safety in the workplace, fair tax reform, new model of doing business, fight against precariousness and renewal of national contracts''.
Union agenda: when the struggle becomes seasonal
As can be seen, the unions follow their own agenda, where dissent with the government in office is taken for granted (even the executive chaired by Mario Draghi was unable to avoid a general abstention from work, although in the reasons the unions absolved the Prime Minister by placing the responsibilities on the ministers and the ''strange'' majority of national unity).
Last year Landini began talking about the general strike - to be carried out during the budget session - already in July, when the government still didn't have a shred of idea about the contents of the measure. There news of this year lies in the decision to postpone the great popular demonstration until the strike takes place, because the moment of the square, of the national demonstration - with the appeal to the people - is scheduled, in Rome, for 20 April for the usual generic themes which are good on all occasions.
The great demonstration: Naples as a battlefield
But the twist will come on May 25th, when a big one will take place national demonstration a Napoli promoted by the associations adhering to the "Via Maestra" (the galaxy that revolves around the CGIL) against the premiership and differentiated autonomy, for the realization of the rights to work, health, knowledge and universal social security enshrined in our Constitution, for peace and to stop every war. As you can see, it is a list of high-sounding titles that evoke the hologram of the Capone brothers (played by Totò and Peppino De Filippo) as they try their hand at dictating and writing the famous cinematic letter. However, there are some new facts: the union takes the field together with other "fellow travellers" (on other occasions Landini has evoked the membership of over 100 associations) to contest interventions of an institutional nature which are the prerogatives of Parliament. Is this the job of a union? Of course, confederal trade unionism boasts a ''general'' vocation that does not shy away from politics.
Union versus party: the duel of strategies
The difference lies in the contents and methodologies of the initiative that distinguish a trade union it's a party. The first negotiates with the counterparties (bosses and government) the conditions of the employment relationship of the subjects he represents as a specific activity without ever excluding a protagonist participation on the issues of the economy and civil life of a country for their impact on the working classes . The party, alone or in coalition with others, presents itself as a candidate for leadership of a community by asking for consensus for the program it carries out - both in majority and opposition positions - in the exercise of executive functions e administration.
For some time the CGIL has moved the initiative of demanding demands onto politics and governments, sometimes influencing their orientation in both doing and not doing, other times contesting their choices. In essence, the "Via Maestra" passes through Palazzo Chigi, favors public policies (strictly spending). If a union forgets its natural counterparts even when they make profits, simply demanding that the government subject them to higher taxation, it abdicates its main function which is to distribute those profits also to the workers, through the collective bargaining.
Workplace referendum: the future of social protest
The latest burst of trade unionism which - to be modern - we could define as "transgender" (in transition towards the nature of a political party) is the opening of a wide referendum campaign on the topics of work which in the intentions of the CGIL should cover the social front of the probable battle - also a referendum but confirmatory - that the opposition will promote on the institutional terrain against the reforms of the premiership and differentiated autonomy.
To create a critical mass, a topic that goes beyond institutional issues is certainly considered necessary. The decision to launch a broad referendum offensive, on the initiative of the unions, was difficult, so much so that it was postponed a couple of times, before being approved by theCGIL National Assembly of February 27; within the Confederation, in particular in the management groups of the trade federations, there were (and now remain silent) strong and motivated doubts about venturing into a demanding referendum campaign, with the risk not to reach the quorum as has happened in other cases (on article 18). But the leader of the CGIL intends to challenge the right in the name of a global alternative (institutional, political, economic and social) with the aim of overturning a scenario built over a long period of time and by other governments other than the Meloni executive ( also belonging to the "deviant" left accused of having betrayed the workers) and of "exiting the emergency by changing the development model".
The long game of the left: referendums, strategies and long times
A perspective that must allow the political left e trade union, with the glue of the CGIL and its armed loved ones (to quote Stalin in reference to the Pope) to remain in the field against the government for as long as necessary, even if it were for the entire duration of the legislature. In fact, the strategy outlined requires, even on a practical level, long times like those needed for the government to implement its program and follow it closely. The Confederation's Legal Council, on the basis of the mandate received from the Assembly, has identified four areas of referendum questions: the first two sui layoffs, one on the overcoming the contract with increasing protections (cowardly! You kill a dead man!) and the other oncompensation in small businesses, the third on the reintroduction of the presence of reasons for fixed-term contracts (they didn't realize that the reason was reintroduced by Minister Calderone); the last, relating to procurement, on the client's responsibility for accidents at work.
Towards the Last Judgment: the future of social policy
After filing the questions in Supreme Court, the controls required by current procedures and the publication in Gazette Official, the collection of signatures will begin. This initiative - they say in Corso D'Italia - will be supported by assemblies in all workplaces and in all territories, to build (of course!) a vast arc of social alliances, and will be completed by initiative legislative proposals popular on work, representation, poverty and health. The CGIL, then, does not rule out taking action against the law on differentiated autonomy and the other institutional reforms desired by the government and the majority, if and when they are approved and subjected to a confirmatory referendum. Otherwise he will act on his own initiative.
Then the day will come Universal judgment: for a global alternative (institutional, political, economic and social) to that desired by the right.
