The union lessons from Sbarra (Cisl) to Landini (Cgil) and Bombardieri (Uil)
How and why the secretary of the CISL, Sbarra, criticizes CGIL and UIL on the anti-government strike
It is a real trade union lesson imparted by the secretary of the CISL, Luigi Sbarra, to the leaders of CGIL and UIL who are too attentive to political sirens.
The CISL leader stands out today with moderate, wise and at the same time pro-worker words in the days in which the controversy over the general strike proclaimed by the other two trade union confederations is raging.
Here's what Sbarra said exactly.
WHAT DOES BAR THINK ABOUT REGIONAL STRIKES
“To urge some important changes to the government's maneuver, we had proposed to our friends from CGIL and UIL a common mobilization path through a large demonstration to be held on Saturday. But the other unions have freely chosen the path of regional strikes which we consider wrong and counterproductive at this stage". This is what the general secretary of the CISL, Luigi Sbarra, underlines today in a long interview with Qn .
Reasonable words but not very suitable for those who engage in political antagonism within some unions: “Why make workers lose a day's wages at a time that is not easy for many families? Why set fire to relationships with companies, which have nothing to do with the maneuver? Again: why penalize citizens with a general protest that will inevitably cause disruption to public services?”, adds the CISL leader, commenting on the intervention of the Guarantee Commission on the strike.
“STERILE CONTROVERSY”
“It seems like a sterile controversy to me – he observes – we should focus 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."
THE DIFFERENT "SENSITIVITIES" ON THE ROLE OF THE UNION, SECOND BAR
According to Sbarra, “there are distinct sensitivities in interpreting the action and role of the union in this season and different ways of evaluating the results of our mobilization and negotiation with the government. The union must not sell dreams. It must face reality, confront all governments and employer counterparts without prejudice, explaining to workers what is the result of negotiation. If, however, it rides on antagonism, winks at politics or movements, it distorts its role, with the risk of making it irrelevant".
WHAT DOES BAR THINK OF THE MANEUVER
However, those who believe that the CISL is collateral to the Meloni executive will be disappointed given Sbarra's judgment for the economic maneuver. In fact, as regards the government's manoeuvre, the number one of the CISL underlines how "the tightening of pensions is wrong, the further penalization of quota 103, the social Ape and the women's option, it is unacceptable to reduce the rates and returns for doctors, nurses, staff of local authorities, kindergarten teachers. There is a risk of an early exodus of thousands of people. The hiring of doctors and nurses is not unblocked. There are 35 thousand competition winners in the public administration whose entry into service is slowed down. On November 25th we will be in the streets of Rome to ask for changes to the maneuver and relaunch the theme of a modern social pact".
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/cisl-critiche-sciopero-cgil-uil/ on Tue, 14 Nov 2023 11:13:12 +0000.