«We express all our solidarity with the marble workers who, risking their lives in a difficult context, do not deserve to be despised and offended»
[23 Aprile 2024]
If it weren’t tragic it would be comical: we are referring to the disconcerting “curtain” broadcast by Report which featured (involuntarily, of course) the president of a company listed on the stock exchange which invoices tens of millions and makes dizzying profits and a ” shoulder” of exception embodied by the deputy president of Assindustria.
In national prime time, on a state TV channel, without shame, this self-asserted “entrepreneurial” class definitively threw off its mask and showed its true face, arrogant and contemptuous, which defines those killed and injured at work as “morons”: the real deficit – not only of humanity and compassion but of entrepreneurial culture itself – lies with those who not only seem to completely ignore the constitutional dictate (“Private economic initiative is free. It cannot be carried out in conflict with social utility or in such a way as to cause damage to health, the environment, safety, freedom or human dignity.”, art. 41) but proves to be completely unaware of the fact that it is a specific obligation of companies to guarantee safety in the workplace also by reminding workers, if necessary, to respect these rules – not by shooting like a sniper and much less by calling them “morons”. ”.
Incidentally: given that the Fum company has certified its management system to ISO 45001, it will be our responsibility to bring the declarations of its president to the attention of the certifying body and of Accredia so that they can evaluate whether his approach to the topic of health and workplace safety is compatible and consistent with this certification.
Today we therefore express all our solidarity with the marble workers who, risking their lives in a difficult context, do not deserve to be despised and offended by an arrogant entrepreneur, and by an affectionate Confindustria (“Albi…”) and complacent. For this reason, Legambiente will also be present at the gathering of the stone trade unions, on the occasion of the rightly called strike day.
We will be there, alongside these workers who perhaps today have the clear demonstration that the “enemies” of the quarrymen are not us environmentalists but their employers (today still and increasingly “bosses”) who, between profits and financial income, doubly deprive the community of a resource that belongs to it: on the level of natural resources and on that of economic resources.
However, we have a fear: that is, that the political, institutional and administrative system – which today is indignant and committed – loses sight of the central point (that of exploitation, precisely) and focuses only on what could soon be archived, liquidated, such as an “unfortunate joke” or “extorted statement” off the air.
Let local politicians and institutions finally say that there is no longer time to do balancing acts, succumbing to “economic” blackmail (of the excavation contribution, of the marble tax, of the production system made fragile by the monoculture of excavation). Let them finally tell citizens that this model of development (and of “doing business”) can no longer be tolerated.
They say that the Carrara quarries have reason to exist only if they manage to minimize environmental impacts and maximize employment. To do this, a different way of managing excavation is needed, with real protection of the environment and human life, and one that really promotes the supply chain, tending to work on site for all block production, which must be increased in percentage compared to flakes, but reducing the total quantities excavated to sustainable levels.
Let them say, without pretense and without technicalities, that all the quarries must be public and that the stratospheric profits, of which Report has made the entire country aware, cannot and must no longer be the prerogative of a few families, but must finally be redistributed to the advantage of the whole city.
of Legambiente of Carrara, Massa-Montignoso, Versilia
Tags: Quarries Carrara Legambiente quarrymen united arrogance owners
