The General Autumn

A General Strike of all 3 confederal unions CGIL-CISL-UIL on 24th October. Something which hadn't happened since 16th April 2002. And perhaps it would not have happened at all if they had not been forced to by the government's actions. Certainly, the CISL and UIL were not planning on anything like this, not after signing the "Pact for Italy" with the government, keeping the door open for social dialogue with them. The CGIL wasn't planning on it either, seeing as how its new general secretary Epifani had introduced a two-year strategy to make up again with the CISL and UIL, signed outstanding contracts, begun to work towards a working relationship with the Confindustria [industrial employers' federation - tr.] through their joint document on competitivity and, above all, kept the social conflict to a minimum in order not to frighten moderate voters in the run up to elections. This General Strike against pension reform seems really to have been more of an accident than anything - there was in fact room for dialogue, but the government slammed the door in their faces. The challenge sees clear: if the General Strike does not get results, then it will be a defeat for the workers; and if it does bring results, then those results will be enough to smash the already precarious unity between the unions, as happened after the 16th April 2002 with the "Pact for Italy".

A General Strike of the base unions on 7th November. But not all together. The coalition which gave rise to such hope on 15th February and 18th October 2002 has been shattered. On 7th November there will only be CUB/RdB, SLAI Cobas and USI. The others chose 24th October. The 7th November strike too is to protest pension reform, but it was decided to hold it on a different day to the CIGL-CISL-UIL strike in order to protest against their support for the Dini Reform of 1995 and more generally against their policy of "partnership" with the government. There is a real risk that the 7th November strike will turn out to be a flop, with consequent problems for the whole base union movement which is already having difficulty at grassroots level because of the choice of a separate strike.

A General Strike called by FIOM-CGIL for 7th November. The Fiom continues its solitary battle, strongly supported by the industrial workers, in its attempt to render useless the separate contract signed by Confindustria with the CISL and UIL and to protest against de-industrialization. 

It is hard to imagine, though, that the coinciding date of 7th November will bring any advantage to the 3 base unions. The social protests regarding pensions should really bring about the greatest possible unity of all workers; there really should be widescale, united mobilization in support of the whole pension and social insurance system.

Because that is what is at stake!

DR

from Alternativa Libertaria Nov.03
News-sheet of the Federazione dei Comunisti Anarchici