They greeted him with banners like this one: “Meloni, not in our name”, “Cutro, state massacre”. Later, when the Prime Minister went up to the CGIL stage, Bella Ciao began to sing from the back of the room: “One morning I woke up and found the invader…”. She listened to them without batting an eye, even though her gaze was the whole program. Then, after about a minute in which he made them vent, he took the two microphones from the pulpit and in a moment ended the dispute: «So, good morning everyone, I thank the general secretary Maurizio Landini, I thank all the CGIL of the invitation. I also thank those who challenge me, in some cases even with effective slogans that I have read, such as “Think you are not welcome”, even though I did not know that Chiara Ferragni was a metallurgist». The joke is directed at Eliana Como, a delegate from the trade union minority who led the protest, presenting herself to Congress with a stole on her shoulders with the inscription, precisely, «Meloni found undesirable in the CGIL», a revised quote from Ferragni’s outfit in Sanremo «Think free.”
It is worth remembering that the dispute was staged only by a minority component of the union, Fiom, which has 24 delegates out of more than 900. Landini, before Meloni’s arrival, recommended ad nauseam asking his followers to show respect against the guest. «All of us chose together to hold an open congress to talk to everyone – he said – because we have to deal with the country as it is, practicing the watchword of this congress: learning to listen even to those who have different ideas from ours, knowing how to listen is the condition of being able to claim the right to be heard. I see the choice of our proposal by Prime Minister Meloni as a sign of respect and recognition, because we want to be protagonists”.
Meloni drove up to the side entrance. The general secretary of the CGIL was waiting for her, but also the delegates from the union’s minority who had scattered dozens of stuffed animals on the ground to remember the children who died in the Cutro shipwreck. One banner read: “The stuffed animal protest against the cynicism, malice and racism of a fascist government”. At that point, plans change, with Meloni wanting to enter through the main entrance. He listened to the speeches before his, including Landini’s. Then she took the stage and spoke for about half an hour. The demonstrators, after singing Bella Ciao, left, leaving their stuffed animals on the chairs.
It has been 27 years since a prime minister has spoken at the CGIL Congress. The last was Romano Prodi in 1996. “This is a nomination I didn’t want to give up – Meloni began – trivially as a sign of respect for a union, which is the oldest union organization in our nation and also consistent with a listening process and discussion that the government intends to inaugurate and intends to continue. I’ve been booed since I was 16, I’m a knight of merit in this matter”. He then explained that he wanted to participate in the meeting to maintain an open dialogue and confront those who “ideally are distant”, because what matters “is to be united”.
The call for unity is one of the most significant passages in her speech: «We need to play as a team and I’m ready to do my part, it’s going to be very difficult in some things», she articulated, «but that doesn’t mean that I don’t I have to try. I find confrontation productive even when we disagree. If the approach is sincere I can learn a lot, I don’t intend to start from any prejudice. On the day of the unification of Italy, I want to say to you: claim your requests against the government without discounts, I guarantee that these requests will be heard without prejudice”.
Meloni also provoked a single, timid applause as he recalled “the unacceptable attack by far-right exponents on the CGIL”. Then he reached out to his interlocutors to form a common front against “the increasingly frequent signs of a return to political violence”. “I think it is necessary that all political forces, trade unions and intermediate bodies fight together against this drift, without exceptions and hesitations”. He also recalled the assassination of Marco Biagi by the Red Brigades, “whose birthday is in two days”. “I say it here – he added – because the union has always been committed to the fight against terrorism”.
Finally, Meloni listed the positions that divide her from the CGIL, while at the same time complaining about the choices made by the government so far: from abolition of basic income to no minimum wage. The coming weeks will tell whether or not yesterday’s historic visit opens a new season in relations between the government and Italy’s main trade union.
Source: IL Tempo
Emma Fitzgerald is an accomplished political journalist and author at The Nation View. With a background in political science and international relations, she has a deep understanding of the political landscape and the forces that shape it.
