XXIII National Congress

Document Summary

VALUE AND DIGNITY TO LABOUR

(Signatories: Gianni Rinaldini, Giorgio Cremaschi, Tino Magni, Francesca Re David, Evaristo Agnelli, Giorgio Airaudo, Bruno Albertinelli, Alfio Arcidiacono, Vincenzo Argentato, Pierfranco Arrigoni, Elio Baffioni, Francesco Ballerini, Teresa Barbieri, Efrem Basaglia, Cristina Beduschi, Federico Bellono, Giuseppe Benedini, Roberto Bennati, Francesco Bertoli, Sandro Bianchi, Giuseppina Bonanomi, Renata Bortolotti, Massimo Brancato, Augustin Breda, Renato Bressan, Paolo Brini, Franco Bruno, Maurizio Calà, Canio Calitri, Luigi Camposano, Dario Campostori, Gianni Cappi, Manfredi Carta, Valerio Cartei, Alessio Castelli, Libera Cerchia, Giuseppe Ciarrocchi, Umberto Cignoli, Giuseppe Cillis, Falilou Cisse, Dina Coccaglio, Domenico Contino, Marco Corona, Cipriano Crescioni, Giovanni D’Aguanno, Milena Demozzi, Nicola Di Matteo, Antonio Di Trinca, Franco Di Ventura, Stefano Facci, Giuseppe Ferrigno, Francesco Fiusco, Elvira Follis, Orazio Freni, Damiano Galletti, Graziella Galli, Luciano Gallo, Vanna Gelosini, Maura Giuffredi, Anacleto Giuliani, Daniela Granzotto, Francesco Grondona, Sergio Guaitolini, Paola Guerini, Massimiliano Guglielmi, Giuseppe Iacovella, Stefania Iannace, Maurizio Landini, Antonio Luciano, Giovanna Marano, Maurizio Marcelli, Massimo Masat, Maurizio Mascoli, Enzo Masini, Maria Massa, Leonardo Mazzotta, Adam Mbody, Alessandra Mecozzi, Daniela Medici, Mirella Mei, Franco Meliadò, Paolo Minello, Giorgio Molin, Guido Mora, Giuseppe Morabito, Raffaele Moretti, Bruno Motta, Giuseppina Murru, Gianguido Naldi, Claudio Nardini, Alessandra Negrini, Elvira Nobile, Candido Omicciuolo, Margherita Orsini, Pietro Passarino, Riccardo Pedaci, Daniela Pellacani, Fulvio Perini, Sabina Petrucci, Gianni Pibiri, Alessandro Piergentili, Giannino Pistonesi, Simonetta Ponzi, Wilma Prandelli, Romolo Radicchi, Lello Raffo, Rosario Rappa, Alfio Riboni, Giuliana Righi, Nicola Riva, Sandra Sandrolini, Marco Scalisi, Gianni Scaltriti, Maria Sciancati, Giuseppe Severgnini, Martino Signori, Mario Sinopoli, Michela Spera, Silvia Spera, Laura Spezia, Claudio Stacchini, Enrico Stagni, Donato Stefanelli, Paolo Stefani, Ettore Tancini, Massimo Valicelli, Flavio Vallan, Mario Venini, Giuliana Vergani, Iulia Vermena, Livio Villa, Oscar Zanasi, Italo Zanchetta, Giampaolo Zanni, Gianni Zatti, Maurizio Zipponi, Stefano Zoli)

Why hold Fiom's Congress now? 

We are going to the Congress to decide whether, after all the struggles and the commitment of recent years, we must try to move ahead. 

Because in the two years that have elapsed since the previous congress, the separate negotiations on the national agreement, inflation rates predicted to reduce wages, Legislative decree no. 30 and the government's economic and social legislation have wiped out the agreement of 23 July 1993, which cannot be put on the table again. The situation has changed.

Because as a result of the denial of democracy workers are deprived of their right to  express their views on their agreement, asserting the logic of the accord with those who are willing to listen. 

Because Italy's economic and industrial decline shows that competition based on precarious work, on the reduction of rights and wages, does not lead to growth in employment and development but to the collapse of the corporate system.

Because we cannot accept that the welfare state be dismantled through the privatisation of public services - healthcare, pensions, education - which results in greater social inequality.

Because of this, as a democratic and independent trade union, we must make choices and develop a consistent bargaining practice aimed at reunifying  labour, improving working conditions, raising wages, negotiating a new agreement, promoting the growth of the country based on the development of labour.

We want an industrial policy based on research, innovation and training, with the involvement - even direct - of public bodies, starting from our country's strategic sectors.

We want workers to have the right to decide on platforms and agreements through referendums.

We want to invert - even through the agreement - the current trend which, in recent years, has resulted in a distribution of national wealth that is against labour and retired people and in favour of yields and profits.

We want more safety and social rights in the areas of education, healthcare, retirement, which are universal rights.

We want to go back to bargaining in the workplace in such a way as to truly affect actual working conditions.

We want that, in this way, labour, its value and dignity resume a central place in society and politics.

What must we do to reach these objectives? 

Fiom's Congress submits SEVEN proposals

1. Reunify labour, starting from the industry  

Throughout its history, trade unionism has always striven to unify labour, but the current trend proceeds in the opposite direction. The explosion of all forms of precariousness, the outsourcing of services and indiscriminate tenders have led to an unprecedented fragmentation and depreciation of manufacturing labour. The Union cannot pursue this fragmentation and must instead reunify workers who, with their work, contribute to the output, even though they work for legally separate companies. All workers who participate in manufacturing the same product must enjoy the same rights. Equal labour means equal rights, for all: that is why in the workplace it is necessary to develop an approach to bargaining that takes into account the entire production cycle.

Today, the boundaries that separate the different industry categories are virtually gone. We must therefore reconsider the entire trade union organisation and the current subdivision of categories and agreements. We propose building a bigger and stronger industry trade union as an instrument for unifying workers.

2. Resuming bargaining, as we have started to do with pre-agreements, making the national agreement and company-level bargaining stronger.

Through  pre-agreements and company-level bargaining, we fight against separate negotiation and want to create the conditions for winning back a true national agreement.  Such a choice originated from the need to stop the attack on bargaining and, in particular, on the national agreement.

In actual fact, the national agreement has been wiped out, because it represents the main objective of the offensive of the Confederation of Italian Industry (Confindustria) and the government. They uphold that, through decentralised bargaining, it would be possible to cope with the decline in wages and adapt rights to the specific conditions of companies.  Such an argument is groundless, and serves only to cover up for the choice to bring down, along with the national contract, the value of solidarity, which represents a binding force among workers.  

Instead, Fiom believes that the union's bargaining policy must reunify labour,  improve working conditions and redistribute the country's wealth in favour of labour. That is why it is necessary to strengthen the role of the national agreement, through which solidarity can truly be promoted. In particular: 

a) agreement, taxation, social policies must be addressed consistently with the aim to recover and invert the current trend in the distribution of wealth in favour of labour and pensions. We can no longer accept expected inflation or any other form of preventive forecasting of price trends aimed to curb wages: pay rises under national agreements must  be based on the real trend of inflation and of the overall wealth of the country;

b) in the national agreement and in companies, we strive to transform all forms of precarious labour into part-time contracts, within a given timeframe; at any rate, it is necessary to develop a political campaign to obtain that Parliament repeal legislative decree no. 30 and radically correct all laws that have made work precarious;

c) we confirm the objective adopted by all European unions to bring down to 35 the number of working hours in a week, for the same salary; it is also necessary to resume company-level bargaining on working hours in relation to the quality and intensity of work performed;

d) second level bargaining must go back to focusing on wages, with the aim to bargain for the actual wage, stabilise most of the results-based bonus, exceed the indices referring to budgets and the connection with presence;

e) bargaining for labour organisation and professional skills, bearing in mind the different subjects involved, is another key element for restoring the bargaining power of workers in companies;

f) It is necessary to fight against all forms of discrimination and assert the rights of migrants;

g) it is necessary to fight for health and safety, against mobbing and all forms of oppression of workers;

The recovery of bargaining requires a strict and thorough analysis also of the limits of our bargaining experience in companies.

3. Striving for a new industrial policy and the development of the Mezzogiorno

The Italian industry is in decline. Privatisations and a blind faith in the market, which have dominated free-trade policies since the 80s, have weakened our industrial and economic system. Today, processes of restructuring, delocalisation, the closing down of factories, layoffs are affecting the entire country, with dramatic effects especially in the Mezzogiorno. We have fought and must continue to fight against all this.

Fiat's crisis is the crisis of an entire industrial system and is the result of the failure - which we have denounced several times - of an industrial and financial strategy based on cost reduction. The approach of the government and of Confindustria has likewise failed, for indeed they proclaimed that a wilder market and a greater reduction of rights were needed to overcome the crisis. Unless a radical change occurs, the crisis will plunge further and turn into a veritable social predicament.

It is necessary to introduce at once a new economic and financial policy, based also on the direct participation of public entities in the corporate system in order promote innovation, quality and therefore the improvement of labour and of the professional experience. In the Mezzogiorno it is necessary to adopt a plan of public and private investments to re-launch the industry as a crucial element for development in the Mezzogiorno. The notion of the state as a market regulator has led us to this situation and this is where we need to start from again in order to assert a new role of public intervention, aimed to create the conditions for development, and of direct intervention in some strategic sectors, starting from the automobile industry. 

4. A new social model that redistributes wealth, with more rather than less of a welfare state, with more rather than fewer rights

a) A fiscal policy that reinstates the progressiveness of the tax burden, cracks down on speculation and evasion, abolishes the amnesty logic; for this, it is necessary to withdraw the current government's 'fiscal proxy' and reinstate a public structure for fighting tax evasion, which instead was dismantled over the years;

b) protection against the fiscal drag, by means of an automatic mechanism that keeps the tax burden on medium-low incomes unaltered, and an increase in tax and family allowances; 

c) withdrawing the 'pensions proxy'; pensions spending must not be reduced and welfare spending must be brought to European levels; early retirement is envisaged for strenuous jobs;

d) the right to a pension for young people and precarious workers, guaranteeing a minimum contribution to all, also for periods of unemployment;

e) stepping up the protection of labour and of jobs and social guarantees to unemployed and precarious workers;

f) abolishing the co-payment system and healthcare devolution in order to introduce a system of national solidarity in guaranteeing services;

g) guaranteeing free public education up to age 18;

h) an investment policy for the quality of life, environmental recovery, energy savings, reclamation of urban centres and degraded areas, sustainable development, the right to housing.

5. Peace and a new Europe, founded on rights and labour, not on the bonds of the stability pact and on the market

Fiom rejects war and terrorism. It is necessary to withdraw our troops from Iraq and abide by article 11 of the Constitution. According to Fiom, the commitment to peace is not a ritual declaration but the assertion of concrete trade union action that fights any form of fundamentalism and upholds the rights of workers that wars suppress and erase.

In order to promote a new anti-free-trade economic and social policy, it is necessary to challenge the constraints that hinder or prevent the growth of rights and societies. It is necessary to fight against these constraints, whether they be institutional, like the unfulfilled political unity of Europe, or economic. This means challenging the policies of the International Monetary Fund and, in Europe, going beyond the monetarist policies and renegotiating the stability pact and the Maastricht agreement.

Ever since the 2001 demonstrations against the G8 in Genoa, Fiom has become an integral part of anti-free-trade movements, for peace and democracy, starting from our concrete experience, which is built on non-violence and participation.

6. Democracy, a stronger and better organised union

Fiom commits to modify its organisational structure to guarantee greater democracy and participation to its members.

The choices we suggest should be made are the following:

a) more power to members, also through forms of periodic consultation;

b) a greater presence of migrant workers in Fiom's bodies at all levels;

c) a unionisation campaign, both in small companies and in large ones, to promote Fiom's growth;

d) a research and training programme for shop stewards and managers; setting up a national economic advisory body next to the legal one;

e) develop the resistance fund, with new financing and allocation mechanisms, to support the tougher and more costly battles;

f) a greater commitment for the visibility of metalworkers, fighting the lack of media coverage, and our own information tools capable of reaching the workplaces in real time.

7. A democratic, autonomous and independent union

Democracy means that trade unions negotiate on the basis of a mandate agreed and arranged with the workers. Separate agreements have undermined autonomy and deprived workers of the right to decide. Instead, platforms and agreements must be put to referendums of the workers concerned. Fiom has worked hard to assert this right-value, gaining approval and credibility. Now we must carry on, expand the practice of democracy and achieve a legislative result: a law on representation is indispensable.

For Fiom, trade union unity is a fundamental objective, therefore it proposes joint action to the other trade union organisations based on specific democratic rules.

Democracy and independence were the fundamental choices of the past two congresses. They are choices that must be confirmed because they are topical. Autonomy and independence mean constantly seeking a point of view on labour that is different than that of companies and the market. Democracy and independence, because the trade union can have opposing governments, but not friendly governments to which it delegates its functions.

Fiom's congress wants to contribute, through its proposals, to define Cgil's choices. The experience of the confederal union in our country, unlike others, has always been based, according to its constituent instrument, on confederalism understood as the construction and composition of the representation of the interests of workers, pensioners and unemployed people, not as a bureaucratic division of tasks. The latter is unknown to the history of Fiom and Cgil. Our long history makes us aware of the value of the choices and contributions that Fiom's congress will provide. These are useful to Cgil and to the union movement as a whole. Our commitment is to formulate analyses and proposals that will make Fiom's and Cgil's action stronger and more consistent.

Independence, autonomy, democracy

They are inseparable aspects of the identity and autonomous and democratic representation of Fiom, which is called today to take up new challenges to assert the role, the dignity and the value of workers. 

our proposals on the social model

Through democracy and participation, commitment and struggle, we want to change the distribution of wealth, power and rights. In recent years, labour has had less and less, profit and yield more and more. In order to make the country grow, labour must have more, the distribution of wealth must change in favour of workers, young people and pensioners. This is a fundamental part of a new economic and industrial policy aimed at the quality of development and innovation.

In order to achieve this, however, trade union bargaining is not enough; fairer laws are also necessary!

LAWS TO BE REPEALED:

- Legislative decree no. 30/Decree no. 276 on the labour market, which makes everyone precarious; Decree no. 368 which eliminates all rules governing fixed-term contracts; it is also necessary to radically change Legislative decree no. 66, which makes working hours flexible and eliminates the limits on weekly working hours.

- The 'fiscal proxy' with which the government intends to cut taxes on wealthy citizens even more and eliminate the progressiveness of the tax burden, while taking all resources away from the welfare state and denying the restitution of the fiscal drag.

- The 'pensions proxy', because one cannot continue to raise the retirement age while millions of young people are unemployed.

- The law on schools, which makes room for private schools, abolishes the full day schedule, brings back class discrimination from the earliest stages of education.

- Devolution, which is aimed at destroying the unity of social rights in the country, with the risk of going back to 'wage cages' and having different laws and regulations governing healthcare, education, services in every region.

NEW LAWS TO BE ENACTED:

- On trade union democracy, because workers must be guaranteed the right to vote on platforms and agreements and the right to elect their own representatives, without privileges for anyone. 

- On rights, because all workers are entitled to enjoy the same basic rights, starting from protection against unfair layoffs.

- On pensions, because young people are entitled to a sure and dignified pension and all people who do tough and physically demanding work are entitled to retire sooner.

- For a real school reform, which guarantees to everyone the right to free education up to age 18.

- For real fiscal justice, by fighting tax evasion, taxing large estates and financial speculation, reinstating the inheritance tax for high incomes.

We want to change unfair laws and we want new laws for labour and for rights:

We ask this of all political forces.

 March 2004