Is the government attacking the right to strike? Bullshit
Errors and nonsense from the media, CGIL, UIL and even Salvini… Cazzola's comment
Matteo Salvini is a sort of inverted King Midas: all the gold he comes into contact with turns into brass. It happened yesterday, when, as Minister of Infrastructure, he decided to reduce the strike in public rail and road transport to 4 hours because planes were excluded from the strike on 17 November.
SALVINI'S MISTAKE ON THE STRIKE
Due to the way he managed relations with CGIL and UIL, the unions promoting workers' abstention, he managed to transform a strike without rhyme or reason into an action in defense of a fundamental right in a democracy and of the trade union leaders who squandered the role and meaning of the general strike, in freedom fighters who refuse to submit to the diktats of an authoritarian government, even at the cost of putting the workers in trouble (Landini and Bombardieri run no risk) who will follow the instructions not to adapt to the prescription.
SCHLEIN'S PROPAGANDA AND GRUBER'S TALK SHOW
As if that wasn't enough, the Captain's line of conduct has provided the Democratic Party on a silver platter with a topic of controversy towards the right-wing coalition which is equally part of the propaganda that Elly Schlein does best: Meloni and his government continue to nourish the authoritarian vocation of the origins. And what is the first operation that a right/right majority carries out (a term used several times by Lilli Gruber in her broadcast last night on La7)? He clashes with the union, which is suddenly re-evaluated as a cornerstone of democracy.
In last night's talk shows, the clash between Salvini and CGIL/UIL took the place of the conflict in the Gaza Strip as top news. From the tone of the debate, Annibale is already at the gates of Rome: first with the so-called premiership, then with the attack on the unions, without Salvini being able to explain the dispute in all its aspects. The minister's entry into the field has marginalized the Guarantee Commission itself which had made observations that were absolutely consistent with the law on the exercise of strikes in public services and with the jurisprudence consolidated in thirty years of activity. Landini had been responsible for a very serious accusation which called into question the impartiality of the Guarantor.
The President of the Commission reports to the Chamber today, in a context in which legal arguments cannot be set aside with propaganda. But Salvini has now brought the issue to a political level, the terrain on which his opponents are comfortable. Thus in the Labor Commission of the Chamber there will be no discussion of the correct application of the law, but mutual accusations will fly: the majority will maintain that the union is willing to pursue political struggle objectives, even at the cost of putting millions of Italians in difficulty; minorities will denounce the attack on workers' rights. The Guarantor, in his critical observations , is right and limited himself to asking for a rescheduling of the strike in some public services where the law provides broader protections for users.
THE ORGANIZATION OF STRIKES
It would be enough to dwell on the program of the unrest that begins on November 17th and ends on December 1st: it seems like the organization of a treasure hunt for drunks. On Friday 17 November , workers from the Central Regions will go on strike for 8 hours. On the same day, throughout the national territory, the categories of the transport, public employment and knowledge. On November 20th it will be Sicily's turn; Sardinia's turn will come on Monday 27 November. On Friday 24 November, the workers will be called to strike Northern regions. On Friday 1st December the workers of the Southern Regions will be crossing their arms. These quadrilles between territories and categories are unprecedented forms of struggle adopted to create a week of chaos.
THE GENERAL STRIKE AGAINST THE BUDGET LAW
All this for a budget law so skimpy that it doesn't even deserve the honor of a general strike which has now become an obligatory stage of the budget session. By 20 October the government must present the budget bill to Parliament, containing the three-year public finance package. The budget law must be approved by December 31st. The government must finally present any bills related to the maneuver by January. In these situations it is necessary to find the appropriate space for discussions and agreements with Brussels. The general strike in its various versions takes place between mid-November and Christmas Eve.
It is doubtful that Parliament will be able to approve the maneuver if this step, which became part of the material budget session, is missing. With his pomposity Salvini made another mistake. It did not limit itself only to making the correct response of the Guarantor unusable, but it frustrated the generous, honest and courageous effort of Luigi Sbarra and the CISL . The leader of the Confederation of via Po had not only gone so far as to criticize the proclamation of a general strike at this time, but had also taken a clear position on the intervention of the Guarantor: "It seems to me to be a sterile controversy – he had observed – we should concentrate on something else. In Italy there are stringent rules aimed at protecting both the rights of unions to strike and those of citizens to use essential services. It is a question of respecting these rules, as has always been done, knowing that the exemptions granted for general strikes require full adherence to the abstention from work of all the most representative organizations. Here it does not seem to me that such a presupposition exists."
It is clear, however, that these correct considerations risk being overwhelmed or ignored when a large part of the media – as usual – has placed itself at the service of Maurizio Landini (as the song says: "The heroes are all young and beautiful ”). Thus the narrative of the right's attack on the right to strike ends up being accepted: partly due to partisanship, partly because such a reading of events is more attractive than a discussion that risks going too far on a technical level. Which shouldn't happen on TV, because people shouldn't understand; they are only asked to take the right side which, almost always, is the wrong one.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/desta-diritto-sciopero/ on Wed, 15 Nov 2023 06:55:18 +0000.