(en) Anarchists and libertarian communists in the CGIL #32
August 2015 - ATTACK ON WORKERS CONTINUES (it) [machine translation]
THAT AFTER THE INTRODUCTION OF THE JOBS ACT AND CANCELLATION article 18 BE PRIVATE OR OF
THE RIGHT TO STRIKE. ---- "Put a stop to the protests held by minority acronyms that
jeopardize the rights of the community in local public services. With strikes called by
unions that have a degree of representation more than 50% or by referendum quote with
thresholds of consensus between the workers concerned, (...) these are the guiding
principles of the proposed law on strikes presented to the Senate. "(1 ) ---- So, after
the clamor raised by the media to some episodes that had affected public services, was
presented the parliamentary initiative brought forward by Senators Maurizio Sacconi and
Pietro Ichino, both the majority of the government Renzi.
The episodes in question referred to the strike of flight personnel of Alitalia proclaimed
by the trade union ANPAC, the situation created by time in company of the local public
transport of Rome, and the now famous meeting of the staff of the "ruins of Pompeii,
Herculaneum, etc... ". We would not go into the reasons of trade union and the validity of
individual disputes, different, but it seems interesting to examine if briefly the facts
and how they were presented in the press that he usually spoke of "wildcat strikes",
"savage blockade ", and so on and so forth. In truth, even going out for a moment from the
pack, anyone could see a reality that presents different aspects.
The strike of the personnel of Alitalia, which had been proclaimed by following all the
rules laid down in sectoral agreements, had been deferred by the union ANPAC 14 to 24 July
"in the hope that the ongoing negotiations (...) will lead to a positive resolution of the
matter in place "(2). Subsequently, given the confirmation of the strike for July 24, the
Guarantee Commission noted that prior to the strike dell'ANPAC it had been proclaimed
another for July 14 from various unions in the airports of Venice and Bologna, and the
rule the depletion objective that provides a minimum interval of 15 days between a strike
and the other called on the union to exclude abstention all flights "to and from" the
airports of Venice and Bologna. The invitation (in case of non-compliance would entail
heavy penalties) was immediately welcomed by the union.
The dispute ATAC Rome is definitely more complex because it will interfere with the
intricate and explosive situation crossed by the Capitoline and its impact on national
policy. But even taking into account these aspects is clear that there are serious labor
problems, exacerbated by heavy plus condition in which they are the drivers which you
download the anger of many users because of inefficiency newspapers. The company points
the finger at workers, highlighting them as the perpetrators of the chaos because of an
alleged "white strike" in progress, and has also submitted a complaint to the Prosecutor
for "the significant increase (...) the means which are considered unfit for service by
drivers and train drivers and therefore do not perform the service "(3). In fact, between
failures newspapers and about 300 buses which are out of service for lack of spare parts,
it seems that the available means are about half of those who should circulate. The
company thus seeks to offload its inefficiencies on workers and begins to use the iron
fist by suspending those who denounce this situation, or taking disciplinary measures
against those with schizophrenia as the driver who had traveled on the subway with the
doors open and also against another driver which was not party because the convoy had...
the doors open! But punishing workers who apply the regulations on the safety of
circulating vehicles is to recognize that public services often work just eluding and not
respecting their own such laws.
Finally the assembly staff of Pompeii called by some unions and invariably presented for a
few days as "assembly sudden", "protest outside the rules", "Black Friday's World Heritage
Site", "damage incalculable for Italy ", etc... A meeting which, as it emerged later (4),
had been requested by the scheduled contract notice and registered with the
Superintendency two days before it is held.
All "cases", then, amplified or artfully built on nothing but used by the government - and
not only - to attack workers and trade unions, in this case regardless of initials. An
attack then decreased in intensity especially because of the serious disruptions that have
affected the transport sector starting with the ongoing deadlock at the Fiumicino airport
with thousands of travelers in disarray: it is true that employers / government / fake
opposition have, to put it politely , a large face of bronze, but in this case also their
shamelessness must have had a limit!
To Fiumicino, preceded in May by the major fire at a terminal, however, it is only the
striking example of an uninterrupted series of poor whose cause is to be charged mainly to
the cuts faced by all public services. Staying in the transport sector this hot summer to
now has given hundreds of commuter trains with air conditioning failures and thousands of
travelers gasping with the windows locked doors malfunctioning even on new trains to the
point that one of them has literally flown away (and is not the first time), the Roman
underground trains traveling with defective doors or even open... The hysterical
references to the "right to mobility", elevated during any strike, have been and are the
fig leaf of all governments to try to hide their responsibility for the situation due to
public spending cuts and corruption inherent in this system you eat enormous resources.
Let us have no illusions. The attack on the right to strike, which in time will cover not
only public services, will resume soon and with intensity because the bosses need a
greater and greater control over the working class; and then, as they say, the appetite
comes with eating. And of appetite, after the introduction of the Jobs Act and the
deletion of Article 18, the employers has long and growing, and this seems a favorable
moment to cancel the contracts in fact National Work and harness more and more workers
with more limits on the ability to strike.
In the public services the limitations in the strike are already many, and not always the
workers of other sectors are aware; then we try to make an example of a situation that
occurs with frequency. In a company of travelers transport is a matter or an agreement is
violated and the RSU / RSA calls a meeting to solve the problem, but is ignored; at this
point it can not do is write to the company by opening the so-called cooling procedures,
communicate them also to the "Guarantees Commission" on strikes. The opening of the
cooling procedures should automatically block the company's initiative to the meeting
scheduled to be held within a set time, but the terms of the notice of meeting are not
always respected; it is necessary to stress that in the meantime the company will continue
to do whatever it wants, as it will be useless by the union to report such behavior to the
Guarantee Commission. If the company does not convene the meeting request, or in the event
of disagreement if convened, the RSU / RSA can finally announce a first strike for up to
eight hours within a defined time period, account being taken of the industrial action
already proclaimed with a distance tot days (10/15) before and after the national /
regional in their industry or other transport if they fall in the same locality. All this
net of deductible periods where you can not go on strike (which we expect to be expanded
in view of the Jubilee), and without considering that at the end of this obstacle course
can always intervene Minister or the Prefecture delaying the strike to other date. So the
strike, as action against a company initiative, can be implemented even two or three
months after the initiative itself in the meantime will remain in place. We add that in
many cases the information provided on how to implement the strike, the company must give
the public, it comes late and poorly damaging both users and workers.
Now this gimmick you would like to add additional constraints, and about there are already
some proposals that collect cross-party consensus among parliamentarians. Maurizio Sacconi
has in fact filed with the Commission work of a Senate delegation DDL Transport which
provides for the declaration of a strike by unions in the sector have a degree of
representation more than 50%, or otherwise a referendum provided that the abbreviations I
announce in the sector have more than 20% of representativeness and that there is a
favorable vote of 30% of the employees concerned. It 'also provided that contracts be
introduced membership prior to the strike by the individual worker; so it would increase
the power of blackmail by the company, in addition to its ability to organize the work
well in advance. As to the proposed Pietro Ichino, on public transport, as this identifies
requirements to call a strike in a company the majority of the union representation,
calculated with the criteria of inter-confederation agreements, or a referendum among the
workers concerned.
The response to all this has been weak or even non-existent by the CGIL and even, as in
the case of CISL and UIL, there have been some openings to the disastrous parliamentary
proposals. We do not be surprised if there were union leaders who hope, albeit not openly,
the legislative route can contribute to put under control a difficult sector such as
transport; Wherefore, though shameful, it might work for a while but does not take into
account the tensions bound to increase with the growth of restructuring in transport and
with the worsening of working conditions and life of the work force. And this not only in
Italy but also in other European countries and in Germany itself, where there has been
strong growth of strikes in the railways and airline personnel.
Only a strong and decisive response union may reject the initiatives that, if implemented,
would weaken even more the possibility of resistance of transport workers and would open
the way to further narrow in the regulation of other sectors, to the coveted goal of the
employers to harness much Also across the private sector manufacturing.
Defense Auditors
Notes
1) "Coming close on strikes" by G. Pogliotti "Il Sole 24 Ore" 28/7/15.
2) Letter of 7/10/15 dell'ANPAC deferment of the strike on 07/14/15.
3) "conscripted drivers ATAC, investigate the PM" Il Sole 24 Ore of 07/28/15.
4) Documentation published in "The Daily" of 07.28.15.
Defense union 32 See the email on the webhttp://r.ag.d.mailin.fr/v49pz633f.html
