Once upon a time there was a union who was in charge of wagesOf workers’ rights and what was happening in factory. But that union has been around for a long time dead and buriedleaving room for a political organization that deals with military spending, wars, climate change And conditions of women. Until recently, however, these were issues over which members of the so-called members usually went on strike grassroots unions, USB, Cobas, Cub. But with them pro-Gaza mobilisations everything has changed and now to marry political causes they are no longer just autonomous organizations, but also a large confederation like the CGIL.
The genetic mutation of the union
Some signs of genetic mutation within the main Italian acronym we had already begun to glimpse three years ago, when in view of the vote for the renewal of Parliamentan election whose outcome is favorable to centre-right was widely taken for granted, the CGIL school had joined the Global climate strikewhich was followed by mobilization against the sending of weapons to Ukraine and subsequently initiatives here and there to prevent trade in war materials with Israel.
But the true transformation of the union led by Maurizio Landini it happened with the latest ones pro Pal demonstrationsin particular after the strike of the self-employed with demonstrations throughout Italy. There CGIL in September he called a stoppage from work to protest against the situation a Gazabut the initiative had not had great resonance, also because participation in the public sector had been minimal.
On the contrary, the blockade proclaimed a few days later byBasic trade union had an echo that shocked the leaders of the team Corso Italia. Landiniwho has long posed as the only true opponent of the government, given his participation in the demonstrations organized throughout the country, must have heard a alarm bell.
While the strike of CGIL had practically gone unnoticed, that of the self-employed, for the clashes in Milan hey attempts to block ports and stationsended up on the opening pages of the evening news and on the front pages of the newspapers.
The clash with the autonomous unions
Result, the Cigiellino secretary called a meeting second mobilization for October 3rdfollowing the one announced again byUSB. Motivation? The arrest of the ships of the so-called Flotilla on the part of Israeli Navy.
Obviously there was no correlation to what had happened in waters many nautical miles away Gaza that justified a strike in Italy, but the secretary skipped over any objection.
That the fate of the boats and the activists on board did not depend directly on Rome and by his government it is a consideration that has not affected the leader’s decision in the slightest CGIL. Nor did the news that one had opened on the very day of the strike make his choice waver glimmer of peace to put an end to the conflict on Palestinian land.
It’s pretty obvious why Landini did not hesitate to align the main Italian trade union in favor of Gaza: the abstention served to leave no room forUSB. In short, behind the Pro Pal protest there are much less noble issues that concern union hegemony and, above all, the political future of the secretary of the CGIL.
Landini’s political ambition
Landiniin a year or so, by statute it will have to leave the leadership of the union. And if on the one hand it must think about its future, building a career in politicson the other hand he must also avoid handing over to his successor a confederation of pensionersovertaken in the field of mobilization by the autonomous and Cobas.
So, the secretary has espoused the Palestinian causepushing the organization to the left and above all aligning it not on labor issues, but on more important ones politicians.
The strategy and the Mélenchon model
The involution obviously has to do with his too career: the former welder does not want to end up like those who preceded him, that is, go and press the button on the desks Montecitorio.
From Lama to Trentinfrom Cofferati to Camussoonce you leave the leadership of the CGIL they have become mere honourables, with the sole exception of Epifani who was secretary of the PD for a few months, replacing Bersani.
Landini points to something else and therefore one confederation more sensitive to political issues it is functional to his designs. The union must no longer be “the transmission belt” of decisions taken by the party, but must be the promoter of a new linewhich infects the party itself.
And what his agenda is besides Gaza we saw this in recent days, when he proposed one assets above two million. His ideal is Jean-Luc Mélenchonangry leader who with France Insoumise he created one Marxist and Islamist left. After all, the pro-Pal demonstrations were the masters second generation maranza.
