Yellow gilets yes and us no? This is one of the slogans used by the thousands of demonstrators (200.000 according to those present) who protested in the square on Saturday in Rome, led by the main trade unions but also by some groups of entrepreneurs. The policies of the current government have ended up in the crosshairs, in particular the pension reform which, according to the organizers of the protests, is not long-term. The protesters also criticized the introduction of basic income for the poor and unemployed, as according to unions hinders the fight against poverty and unemployment.
“If they have at least a minimum of rationality in the government, they should listen to this square. Our aim is to unite trade unions in Europe in the name of a people-based and work-based society. If they have a shred of intelligence, they should listen to this square and open the discussion. We are the change. They say they will hire 6 navigators with fixed-term contracts to place other precarious workers. It is a masterpiece of intelligence,” said the ironically new secretary of the CGIL Maurizio Landini, in its first official release.
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"In Piazza San Giovanni at the CGIL, CISL and UIL demonstration there is the real Italy, flesh and blood workers, people who have made this country grow and concretely move forward step by step", said the general secretary of the Cisl Annamaria Furlan. “Nothing to do with the slogans launched with tweets and Facebook live broadcasts”. “The government cannot be self-referential because the economy is doing badly and a government of change cannot change the country for the worse. Compare with the unions, we are ready to do our part”, added the Uil secretary Carmelo Barbagallo.
For the first time, a delegation of industrialists from Emilia-Romagna also took part in a trade union demonstration to protest against the blockade of drilling in the Adriatic which threatens to blow up businesses and jobs.
The candidates for Pd secretary also took to the streets Maurizio Martina and Nicola Zingaretti: "Everyone is telling the government to change course, and today there are also industrialists in the streets with the unions," said Martina. “To Di Maio, who met the yellow vests but did not go to the Pernigotti table, we say: less talk, less propaganda and more attention to the real country. They are imprisoned in a media and communication bubble that distances them from the country".
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The procession stretched for several kilometers from Piazza della Repubblica to Piazza San Giovanni. The demonstrators carried banners and placards with slogans such as "Future at Work", "We are not your ATM" and "Hands off pensions", "More welfare state, less social". It took 10 trains, 1.300 buses and 2 ships to bring the protesters to Rome.
