CGIL general strike, unions divided: Cisl and Ugl say no

“The union is not divided, but plural,” Luigi Sbarra, leader of Cisl, told Corriere della Sera. Sometimes, in the semantic choices, there are great objectives, and it is certainly that of union unity, a value often claimed by the left. The fact, however, is that in the confrontation around the maneuver in gestation there is no union unity and the furrow is drawn after the meeting that the acronyms had in Palazzo Chigi with the government. From which came a double record for triple. They choose the CGIL and UIL squares, in a territorial mobilization that will start on the 12th and culminate in the general strike on the 16th of December. “We reaffirm our negative opinion” on the budget law, “for which the mobilization exists and continues”, said CGIL general secretary Maurizio Landini.

Pointing the finger at various aspects, including the flat rate: “It increases differences and burdens for workers”. In addition, “the responses we obtained confirmed the profound differences on the issue of taxation, precariousness and also on the issue of protecting purchasing power”. In front of UIL, leader Pierpaolo Bombardieri said: “There is no response to the wages and pensions emergency. We had asked for the reduction of the tax to the thirteenth month, contractual increases and there are no measures in progress». This, then, marks the choice of protest. In the face of this, however, the CISL’s attitude is interlocutory. Sbarra calls for an “articulated judgment December is the day on which demonstrations will begin in the squares of various regions, culminating in the general strike on the 16th”, sharing, however, the trajectory of having dedicated the largest portion of resources to the energy emergency. Even the Ugl, with Francesco Paolo Capone, opts for the path of dialogue, although it has been highly critical of the implementation of vouchers (“irreflectively”, he commented), noting that some interventions go “in the right direction”.

Among them are some instruments to combat poverty, such as the “single check” and resources pledged but not used by the Municipalities. Thus, differentiation arises. As happened last year, on the occasion of the last budget law of the Draghi government. Also in this case, the triplet found itself on two different levels, with the CGIL and the UIL heading towards a general strike, while the CISL was not. But with a difference of current times. Landini, by the way, at the time pointed the finger above all at the proposals of the parties that, in his view, to the detriment of Draghi’s attitude, would have worsened the budgetary law: “They think more about their own electoral flags than those of Italy’s interests”. Also in this case, a verbal formula similar to the one we have heard in these hours was used: “There is no single union, but a unitary one – said Landini – we are divided by the sensitivity of the response”. However, in this year’s dynamics there is a difference entirely inscribed in the political scenario. The Draghi government saw all sections of the left in the majority (except for the residual strength of the “Italian Left”).

On the contrary, currently the left block is fully placed in opposition. However, with a picture of differences. A PD bent on its own parliamentary trajectory and on the difficult reconstruction of identity is counterbalanced by a 5 Star Movement that chose a line very conducive to protest, which sees the core of propaganda policy in the defense to the bitter end of the income base and in an accusation made to the government, often in exaggerated tones, of neglecting poverty. Here, then, the choice of piazza della CGIL could constitute, in fact, another stage in the rapprochement between the trade union Corso Italia and the 5 Star Movement led by Conte. A further step, beyond the common sensibility, also the one sealed by a street initiative last November 5th, also appears in the dossier of the war in Ukraine. A process of overcoming that historical assumption that, in recent history, saw the CGIL in a privileged dialogue first with the DS and then with the Pd, in the wake of historical continuity with the Italian Communist Party.