MESSINA – Teacher loaned to the union, Pietro Patti, 43 years old, already has long experience both working and as a CGIL manager. He taught in nursery school, then taught in primary school. From 2016 secretary of the Flc CGIL school until 2022, when he was elected Secretary of the Chamber of Labor of Messina.
What is the strength of the CGIL in the province?
“We are almost 40 thousand members, a significant force considering the lack of work in our area, as in the whole South. Messina is one of the provinces that is depopulating the most, the young people who leave do not come back, they would not find here the job opportunities that are up to their education. The Cgil can also write about the unemployed with a simple membership card, but the needs are different. Here it is difficult to involve, there are small businesses with few employees that do not sign up unless they have disputes. The message gets across that the union member creates problems for the employer. This is not the case, because we collaborate with many companies. The support for the Birrificio Messina is no coincidence”.
Has the role of the union changed?
“It has changed because the world of work has changed. precariousness and fixed-term contracts have increased. In 2023, of all the contracts activated, only 13.9% were permanent, the remainder were fixed-term, seasonal, temporary. The blow then came with the Jobs Act, which introduced the permanent contract with increasing protections and in the event of illegitimate dismissal it provided for the overcoming of reinstatement in the workplace with financial compensation. In fact, we are collecting signatures for the referendum for the repeal.”
Also ask for a law on representation...
“If Cgil, Cisl and Uil in a given workplace represent 70% of the members, you cannot apply the contract of another union that does not even have a single member and perhaps sets worse conditions than those signed by the confederates. If there is no law that regulates this, obviously the company does not choose the contract that protects the workers the most, but the one that saves them money”.
What are the variables that make the union more or less incisive in a territory?
“First of all, the presence or absence of an industrial fabric. Important industries were established in Messina in the seventies: Pirelli in Villafranca, which had more than a thousand employees, brick companies with two thousand employees, shipbuilding with more than 4 thousand employees. There is a crisis underway. However, the Tyrrhenian area still has some margin for development and the question is always what you want to do. The ecological transition is unavoidable, but the problem is how to do it. We need to have foresight, look thirty years from now. There is also a social transition to be implemented. For example, we cannot send home more than one thousand to two thousand workers in the entire Milazzo area, which is among the cities with one of the highest per capita incomes in Sicily, and in fact still has great appeal. We need political choices that attract investors.”
What to focus on?
“Over the years, politicians from Messina have not acted in the interests of the territory. We are moving in a patchy way, we do not have a clear overall vision of the industrial policies to be implemented. We need a network that brings together universities, the productive world, unions, associations, professional orders, which gives impetus and ideas for development, a shared vision to work on together, we have an important university and I would like it to always be involved. Tourism can be an employment opportunity and bring development and create stable jobs if deseasonalized. In 2023, 80% of contracts were fixed-term. There are steps forward in Messina, but there must be synergy between the local authority, the Region and the national government to implement effective policies within a favorable general framework”.
A law of the national government says that the Bridge over the Strait will be built. But you as Cgil continue to say that it should not be done?
“If it were to start, it is clear that the Cgil will place itself within a system of rules and will ask for protection for workers and citizens, because we also perform a social function. The Cgil will demand, as in the past, safety protocols, will check that collective agreements are applied and will ask for checks to ensure there is no mafia infiltration. Like any democratic force, it accepts decisions, but at the same time we exercise a control and protection function. For us it is not a priority, we have always said so. The jobs that would be created are 2,300, according to the expected expenditure, but the ferries, where approximately 3,000 people work, including seafarers and related industries, will be eliminated”.
What kind of relationship is there with the municipal administration?
“We are ready to recognize good work and stigmatize if choices are made that we believe are wrong. We asked for meetings on Pnrr, FSC funds, on ongoing projects in which there are difficulties, without feedback. We said we were available to give support, to make our skills available, we are doing this in social planning and we are in partnership with the Municipality in a European project: ‘Return to the city’ on the inclusion of young people in the world of work” .
