Grosseto. This morning the Sala Eden in Grosseto hosted the meeting of the general assemblies of the categories and of the CGIL, gathered to discuss and prepare the next national demonstration, which will be held in Rome on Saturday 20 April: “Enough is enough! Health and safety, right to treatment and public health, tax reform and wage protection”. The report of the general secretary Monica Pagni introduced the discussion, in which just over 200 union delegates took part.
«We are facing a long period of mobilization on “our” issues – he began the secretary of the Chamber of Labor –. After the general strike of 11 April called together with Uil, next Saturday we will be in Rome again with Uil and on 25 May in Naples with the demonstration in defense of the Constitution with the associations that have joined “La via maestra”, against the reform that wants to introduce federalism and the premiership by distorting the Constitution. In the meantime, we will have to keep the attention of the world of work alive on the collection of signatures for the four referendums that we have filed in the Court of Cassation on illegitimate dismissals, precariousness and safety at work linked to subcontracting. Whoever governs today has in mind a type of country and an idea of the world of work that is diametrically opposed to what we have. I know that we all come from a long period of union commitments and mobilisations. After all, I ask myself and I ask you, “if not now, when”? Since it is our task to represent the interests of workers and pensioners”.
Pagni she then went into the merits of some issues: «What is happening with the defunding of the National Health Service, which has not started today, is very serious for us. A health service that works is when the rich go for treatment where the poor do and this is no longer true in Italy. Therefore the right-wing government sees the objective of transferring the most lucrative parts of health services to private healthcare as within reach. Just as the idea of a country that is subject to the federalist reform of the State is very clear, resulting from the sense of revenge towards our Constitution. We will oppose with all our strength those who have now given up the south of the country as lost. It is not a joke, but a vision consistent with the less obvious objective of weakening or dismantling national collective agreements, to replace them with territorial-based bargaining. Effectively reinserting the salary cages. An approach which in turn goes hand in hand with the overall plan for taxes and duties. By not combating tax evasion, which systematically rewards financial income, corporate dividends and extra profits, which are taxed far below the level of taxation of the salaries of employees and pensionersthe”.
A lift the secretary of the chamber of labour he also dedicated it to the delicate topic of wages: «A few years ago Matteo Renzi as Prime Minister boasted of the fact that the cost of labor for an Italian engineer was the lowest in Europe. A line of thought which in the last 20 years has produced a 2.9% drop in wages in our country, compared to an increase which in some European states has reached the threshold of 17%. Here, the CGIL sees it in a diametrically opposite way, because continuing to devalue professionalism as has been done in recent years will produce more poor work. And this in a province like ours, where half of the workers have gross incomes below 15,000 euros, will further increase the economic gap that already exists with a good part of Tuscany.”
So Pagni’s conclusion: «We are one of the very few large national organizations that has maintained a strong relationship with people, who systematically discuss the contents and contribute to forming a common sense. We have the conditions to try to change this country, which is why I ask all of us who are the widespread management group of the CGIL to put in our commitment and enthusiasm.”
Tags: national demonstration CGIL assembly
