The History The aims The structures The collective bargaining

1. The History The aims The structures The collective bargaining Cecilia Brighi

2. The history of CISL • During Fascism (1922-1944), Trade unions had been struck down by the fascist regime. • Workers and employers were forced together into "corporatist cooperation" inside one, single, fascist trade union. • The working class started fighting against the rising cost of living, then the war itself and the nazi occupation. • A struggle soon developing into a great collective movement of antifascist political protest. Cecilia Brighi

3. 9 June 1944: Rome Trade Union Pact, birth of the unitarian Cgil (Italian Workers' General Confederation). • The growing cold war climate, and crucially of different views and approaches on specific issues of trade union activity gave rise to a split. • Cisl (Italian Workers' Trade Unions Confederation) was born in 1950, aiming to be free from political or religious interferences. It became a non-denominational, not a catholic, trade union.Over the next two years the republican and social-democratic fractions left the Cgil too, giving birth to what, a little later, became the UIL (Italian Union of Labour). Cecilia Brighi

4. CISL basic principles • trade union independence, • solidarity, • equality • collective bargaining. • CISLjoined most other world trade unions in giving birth to the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU): a non-denominational International, opposing the communist dominated World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) and different from the smaller International Confederation of Christian Trade Unions (ICCTU, now WCL). Cecilia Brighi

5. the model • solidarity and the search for equality. • A trade union as an association, drawing its strength from the free association of workers, • Cisl has always opposed attempts to regulate union activity by law, even if foreseen in articles 39 and 40 of the Italian Constitution: it would imply regulating by law and from the outside a free association of free human beings and it might imply a sort of binding obligation for any and all workers to join a union. Cecilia Brighi

6. Collective bargaining • In 1953 Cisl tabled a proposal on the articulation of the bargaining system: negotiating wages, at plant or sectoral level: originally resisted by the Cgil soon to became the cornerstone of union activity for a long time. • In 1954 a new proposal launched the Workplace Branches, the Cisl's structures involved in bargaining at plant level. Cecilia Brighi

7. The sixties • a few Federations, first among others the metalworkers, formed a more formally and consistently united front at local level, • first large scale union struggles based on an effective unity of action pact, the 1963 metalworkers agreement (unions won the right to bargain at plant-level on issues such as piece-rates, productivity premia and skill-grades) concluded this period of trade union mobilisation. • 1969 beginning of the first structured attempt at unification of the trade union movement. Cecilia Brighi

8. THE SEVENTIETH • In 1972 these efforts led to the foundation of the Unitarian Cgil, Cisl and Uil Federation. • 1975 signature of aA national multi-industry agreement improving the balance between pay and pensions, harmonising the cost of living allowance for all categories of workers and reforming the Wages Guarantee Fund Cecilia Brighi

9. 1978, Cisl endorsed by the unitarian strategy meetings played a substantive role, negotiating important nationwide agreements • 1984 agreement, concluded with the government, provided for labour cost reduction through a less stringent indexation system in exchange for some economic and tax policy provisions, government measures fighting unemployment and allocating public funds to the financing of social contributions). bringing the inflation rate rapidly down to less than 10%, for the first time in a decade, and thereby saving much more purchasing power Cecilia Brighi

10. The nintieth • July 1992 a tripartite protocol was concluded in the wake of the monetary crisis, aimed at reducing the public debt and the inflation rate, by elimination of the sliding-scale mechanism, thus widening the scope for collective bargaining. • July 1993 a the second tripartite protocol was signed: social dialogue was explicitly defined as the most appropriate method to discuss issues as fiscal and price policies and measures to promote development. At the same time the structure of collective bargaining was subject to an overall review. Cecilia Brighi

11. Protection of workers living conditions and civil rights is nowadays more and more linked to economic policy options, which may ensure progress and social cohesion, innovation and democratic consensus. • Cisl considers the incomes policy to be of paramount importance. • The most useful strategy is the tripartitesocial dialogue between government and the social partners • Unemployment on an average 11%, but with a huge development gap between the rich northern regions (around 5-6%) and a large part of the poor South (22-25%) • education and vocational training systems is absolutely essential • an urgent reform of the social security, health and social services. Cecilia Brighi

12. Structure and Organisation • Cisl has a double organisational structure at different territorial levels: • "vertical" structures, Federations corresponding to the main sectors of industry, (e.g., chemical industry, metalworkers, banking sector, transports, municipalities) • "horizontal" structures, at territorial level bring together (confederate) all union Federations. Both structures are present at four different territorial levels (workplace, district, regional and national). Cecilia Brighi

13. Workplace level • workplace shop stewards (RSU - Rappresentanze sindacali unitarie) directly elected by workers on lists presented by any trade union organisation. • They hold all union rights: management of time off for union activities, the right to call meetings in charge of relations with employers. • They engage in company-level bargaining, according to rules and procedures defined in the pertinent, collective industry-wide agreement. Cecilia Brighi

14. District level a territorial union structure, roughly corresponding to a group of municipalities, covering all workers in a geographical zone. This is the basis on which the union's horizontal structure is built. Cecilia Brighi

15. Regional level It groups together all districts situated in the same geographical region (Sicily, for instance, or Latium, Lombardy...). Each regional structure, Regional Union (USR - Unione Sindacale Regionale), groups together unions present in their region. National level This is the territorial level which groups together all regional organisations. The National Confederation groups together all the National Industrial Federations. Cecilia Brighi

16. Cecilia Brighi