Workers unity precondition to defence of living standards
At the same time there was a first assembly of local factory councils in Milan which came out against the government's proposals and organised a strike in defence of the sliding scale.
The CGIL leadership seemed to have understood it could not pacify this discontent with the thin gruel of vague
The huge workers struggles in 1968 and 1969 won Italian workers a number of very important gains.
One of the central concessions they won from the bosses was the
'sliding scale' (scala mobile) of wages, ensuring that wage rises would always keep pace with inflation.
They also established the principle of trade-union unity.
tional three union federations are the CGIL, General Confederation of
Italian Labour, CP-led; the CISL, Italian Social Confederation of Labour, the Catholic union; and the UIL, Union of Italian workers, Socialist
Party-led. Although these remain separate components they have been
In the metalworking sector there is one united into one confederation.
federation, the FLM, although there are components within it linked to each of the three big federations.
This unity exists at the top level but, more importantly, at workplace level through the factory councils that have established not only their right to represent all the workers in their factory but to organise and call strikes and other actions, as well as to establish co-ordinating networks among themselves without having to have the approval of the trade-union apparatuses.
As the effects of the economic crisis hit harder in Italy there have been increasing battles by the workers to keep their gains both at the economic level and in trade-union unity.
The following article, first published in Rouge, newspaper of the
French section of the Fourth International, reports on the recent assembly of factory councils to plan the next stage in the struggle.
Anna LIBERA
MILAN — A national assembly to organise the fight against the austerity measures introduced by
Party prime minister Bettino Craxi and his government took place here on March
6. The assembly had been called by hundreds of factory councils, co-ordinated
This was the first open expression of the workers' anger, simmering throughout the country since early January, at the government's policies and the paralysing division between the union leaderships.
Confronted with the recent attack on the sliding scale this anger turned into unified action. It was organised by the rank-andunion structures in the factories, which called their own strikes and demonstrations mobilizing hundreds of thousands of workers throughout the coun-
Bettino Craxi intended to impose the austerity demanded by the measures
Italian bosses by utilizing his party's links with the workers movement.
In fact, in January he had entered into negotiations with the union federations in order to revise the mechanism of the sliding scale'.
When faced with the
CGIL's rejection of the government proposals, while the CISL and UIL had agreed to them, he issued a decree that cancelled the automatic working of the sliding scale and limited the extent of
8
The tradicompensation for the cost-of-living increases to 50 per cent.
Why did the CGIL, the Communist majority union that had, since the governments of national unity from 1976 to 1979, been the propagandist for austerity and had itself raised the necessity of questioning the sliding scale agreement, decide to take a tougher stand in detence of the workers? Workers organise fightback
Undoubtedly, its first motivation was a self-defence reflex by a union apparatus that has, because of its predominance in the industrial sector, the most to lose in a defeat of the working class. This is reflected in the sharp debate that has broken out within the union leadership over the government's policy.
But a more immediate motivation can be found in the strong discontent that has appeared in the workplace since the end of January. At that time delegates from 120 factory councils held a national compensations that it was demanding from the government, in exchange for a limitation on the system of wage adjustment.
The decision of the government to implement by decree what they had not been able to win by negotiation was the spark that set it all alight. Assemblies of factory councils were immediately organised in all the workers' centres: Milan, Brescia, Bologna, Florence, Bari, Turin, Reggio Calabria. Hundreds of factory councils took part in each town - 350 in Milan and Turin on the 23 and 24 February respectively - representing a broad rank-and-file movement not only against the hated decree, but also against the division existing at the top level of the trade unions. Union tops try to take control
These assemblies first of all proposed immediate local actions. There were strikes called by the rank-and-file union bodies in Florence, Turin, Brescia, Bologna, Reggio Calabria, Milano, Rome, etc. that were widely followed. There was a total strike in industry in Rome, and the procession of 100,000 workers was the biggest local demonstration for years in the capital.
Just one example of the movement's strength is that the Fiat workers have resumea their place in the struggle. since autumn 1980 when the big six-week strike was unable to prevent the 25,000 redundancies ordered by Agnelli, Fiat was almost a bosses' paradise rather than a beacon of workers' struggle. No strike had won the support of more than 10 per cent of the workers up until the recent actions, when some 50 to 60 per cent of the workforce answered the factory councils' strike call.
Along with the initiative in action, the councils took measures to strengthen the centralisation and self-organisation of the movement: co-ordination of the movement at local level, sending representatives to other co-ordinations, and calling a national assembly of factory
International Viewpoint 2ü March 1984
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ITALY_
bustering during the debate on the tween the workers and the government we undertake to respect the framework of our responsibilities.
This is why we ask the workers to strengthen the CGIL-CISL-UIL by joincouncils from all over Italy.
At the same time as the registrations for this assembly were arriving from all the big industrial centres, the union apparatuses were beginning their blackmail for 'unity', threatening to formalise the trade-union split in order to push the CGIL to take the councils in hand.
The Communist Party-dominated federation and the Communist Party leadership (PCI) were no less concerned about the dynamic of the movement, particularly its self-organisation and extension, which could bring down the government. To create a diversion, without directly going against the movement, the CGIL proposed local strikes and, together with the PCI, organised local and uncoordinated demonstrations on March 6, the day the factory councils' assembly met. the struggle at the parliamentary level by obstruction tactics that would prevent the ratification of the decreee by the Assembly at the end of the sixty day period required by law. strength of the movement rests in its self-organisation and centralisation. This was demonstrated in the proposals put forward to the March 6 assembly: call for a general strike against the hated decree; the organisation of a national demonstration in Rome and an appeal
On March 8 a general strike took place in Piedmont under the banner of workers
The strike was called by 1,400 factory councils from the region. than 100,000 people assembled in Turin for a demonstration - a larger action than the CGIL-CISL-UIL have succeeded in mobilising for years.
What a contrast between the powerful united rank-and-file movement in which the bulk of the Italian working class has been caught up in the last six weeks, and the long-winded declarations of the union leaders in the newspaper columns or the television interviews explaining why the division of the CGIL-CISL-UIL federation has taken place and why the formal split has to be carried right through to Workers stand fast for unity
In straightforward terms, what this means is not only the reappearance of three separate union federations but the dissolution of the factory councils. These are rank-and-file structures elected by all the workers in the workplaces - the veritable backbone of the Italian working class that has been built through big struggles.
What has happened in Italy in the last trying to apply austerity measures on the one hand, and, on the other, between the union rank and file and the federation leaderships, whose actions have facilitated application of these measures and whose division has prevented an adequate response.
The movement of self-organised factory councils has developed because of this division and paralysis. This was a class-struggle movement that was immediately forced to address the question of the defence of trade-union union as a precondition for victory against the government.
The delegates at the national assembly in Milan on March 6, represented the bulk of industrial workers. They were women and men of 35 to 45 years old, the same generation as built the factory councils in the 'hot autumn of 1968', who are strongly attached to their unions and not very easily manipulated by the federation leaderships.
The federation leaderships are engaging in big manoeuvres against this united
Having used blackmail on the question of unity, counterposing formal unity at the top to unity in struggle at the base, they moved on to blackmail by threatening to create a split. The CISL
UIL have already begun to force their delegates to withdraw from the facto the left in parliament to organise fili- few weeks is a double test of strength betory councils in the most moderate sec-
The 'normalisation' is proceeding rather effectively against the union organisers who have lined up with the factory
Manifesto for trade-union unity and democracy adopted by the March 6 assembly We undertake to fight for the application of the following principles:
1. No question concerning contractual conditions or working conditions can be discussed between the trade unions and other parties without the preuious agreement of the workers concerned. general assemblies. The duty of solidarity between workers, moreover, forbids submitting the question of redundancies to a referendum vote.
2. In the factories and workplaces the representaion of the workers is entrusted to delegates and delegates councils elected by all the workers in secret vote. The delegates councils cannot be divided between the different union organisations, they represent the workers united. are binding on the trade unions. The CGIL-CISL-UIL federation must call an assembly of all the delegates at least once a year. Such assemblies must be called in any case before any decision is taken concerning questions related to a general demand.
The workers must decide on the basis of a thorough knowledge of the facts. It is the duty of the union bodies to provide this information.
Democracy is based on freedom of choice between different positions. This is why, when different positions exist within the union, they must be submitted to a vote of the workers concerned. The result of this vote is then binding on the union bodies.
5. The CGIL-CISL-UIL federation is charged with the responsibility of political leadership and proposals for the councils and the workers. oughgoing reform of its internal life and functioning is required, based on a greater openness and decentralisation in decision making, a reduction in the role and weight of the trade-union fulltime apparatus, and an increase in the role of those who are actively involved and have technical and scientific capabilities.
We undertake to lead a political battle on these principles among the workers, in the councils, in the CGIL-CISL-UIL federation. As far as we are concerned, ing it and participating in its activity. International Viewpoint 26 March 1984
This mandate must be given by factory
The decisions taken by the councils
Thus a thor-
In Turin, one leader of the CISL who supported the March 8 strike was sent a 'commissar' from the leadership for 24 hours, just long enough for him to reverse
The CGIL is following the same course but with different tactics. evening of March 6, after the call for a demonstration in Rome on March 24, made by the councils, the CGIL issued a communique announcing that it was 'calling' the demonstration, and that it did not want the support of the unitary factory-level bodies.
Its decision to take over the movement aims to wrest the leadership from the factory councils. If it was for unity, it would have done quite the opposite - prized and encouraged the unitary nature of the initiative and played on the internal divisions of the CISL and UIL by trying to link up with those sections that rejected the decisions made by these two federation leaderships.
Despite the decision of the assembly to call a demonstration first and put off the decision on a general strike to the end of the month - a compromise and presented as such - the continuation of the national and local co-ordinating networks of factory councils and the new assembly that will take place on March 30 are important underpinnings for the continuation of the movement. The struggle against austerity and the defence of trade-union unity are the two inseparable facets of this movement.
ness led to some initial mistakes when on the Atlantic Coast, a clear military they established their first contacts in the gain for the Sandinista forces.
Decrees issued December 2 and 4,
1983, declared amnesty for "Nicaraguan citizens of Miskito origins who have committed violations against public order and safety and all related offenses, between