The CGIL launches two popular initiative laws on healthcare and procurement. Union strategy or political springboard for Maurizio Landini in view of the 2027 elections?
Here we go again. After having promoted five referendums on work which failed miserably due to failure to reach a quorum, after having actively participated in the referendum campaign on justice, the CGIL persists in political initiatives.
This time the decision of the leader of the Confederation of Corso d’Italia is to promote a collection of signatures to send to Parliament two popular initiative law proposals: one on healthcare and the second on procurement. The merit of the proposals is not yet known, but the most important trade union in Italy will commit its structures in the coming months towards this objective: the apparatus has already been alerted about it.
The weight of political protagonism and new legislative proposals
On healthcare it is probable that the philosophy of the legislative proposal will be aimed at strengthening the public sector, while on procurement it is foreseeable that the article will resume the content that had already been subjected to a referendum, when the union wanted to modify the laws which in its opinion favor the use of contractors without financial solidity, often not in compliance with accident prevention regulations. It will be necessary to cancel some rules and extend the responsibility of the client entrepreneur with a view to providing greater guarantees safety at work.
The silent (or silenced) internal debate describes a worrying situation: on the one hand it highlights a real fatigue of the apparatus, recently relentlessly engaged in objectives that can hardly be defined as trade union in nature, and on the other it makes the feeling prevail that the CGIL has thrown itself body and soul into the political arena, losing sight of its mission and fading its own identity. The goal of Maurizio Landininearing the end of his mandate, is exclusively to enter politics, using the opportunity of the 2027 elections.
The obstacle of Parliament and the fate of the “excellent corpses”
It is the main reason for this activism. With the weight of his organization, Landini he could very well have asked the parties that are more or less connected to the CGIL – Pd, Avs, Movimento 5 Stelle – to put in place legislative proposals aimed at the objective, but seems to prefer its direct protagonism. This is not to claim union autonomy, but because this will make it more visible.
In any case, the “aspiring” parliamentarian should be aware that in Italy, although thearticle 71 of the Constitution provides that popular initiative bills can be presented by collecting 50,000 signatures, historically the outcome of initiatives of this kind has almost never found an effective translation in Parliament. The reason is easy to say: this right is in fact controlled by Parliament and the parties. Parliamentary bodies are not obliged to comment on popular initiative proposals and there is no constraint that gives priority to these legislative proposals over others. Only the Senate regulations, amended a few years ago, provide that the relevant commissions must begin examining popular initiative bills within and no later than one month, calling one of the promoters of the bill to a hearing. However, this does not apply to the Chamber.
In most cases, the legislative process does not begin at all and popular initiative law proposals remain lodged in commission without even being discussed. To this day, the parties are the absolute masters of this instrument of democracy “from below”, which obviously they make work only when the object of the proposal responds to a specific interest, often electoral and almost never general, while by virtue of the selection made by Parliament, many excellent corpses remain.
Take off the mask, Landini. The most important Italian trade union should better use the financial resources deriving from its members towards contractual objectives that improve their living conditions.
