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9 April, 2002The country's major labour centers, including the metalworkers' federations, have joined in a show of force against the government's plan to reform the labour law.
ITALY: Since early this year, Italy's three largest trade union confederations - the CGIL, UIL and CISL, which include many IMF-affiliated metalworkers - have been staging mass protests and rallies to voice their opposition to controversial labour law reforms (Article 18 of the Labour Law) proposed by Italy's prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, and his centre-right government. One of the more recent rallies, organised by the CGIL on March 23, saw two million people marching in the streets of Rome.
However, seeing that the government, with the strong support of the employers' association, is persisting in its plan to create a more flexible labour market and give companies much greater freedom to fire workers, the three trade union centers - with 8 million members - are stepping up their show of force in defense of job security with a general strike on Tuesday, April 16. The 8-hour nationwide strike will be the first of its kind in 20 years.
According to the leadership of the Italian unions, the government's intention is "to limit the right of collective agreement that will inevitably produce conflict, not real change. They are against the culture of contractual agreement. They are against the unions."
Although the Italian prime minister is trying to pacify the trade unions with proposals for a new system of unemployment benefits, he has not made clear who will pay for it.