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British-Italian trade union statement - 4/5 November 2004

Issue date

CGIL, CISL, UIL and TUC joint statement

4-5 November 2004

On 4-5 November 2004 the leaders of the trade union organisations CGIL, CISL and UIL and TUC held bilateral Italian/British trade union talks in Rome. This first ever British/Italian trade union summit took place a week after the signing of the European Constitutional Treaty. Concerns were however expressed about the direction of the European Union in terms of economic and industrial policy and suggestions that social progress could or should be halted until sufficient economic growth had been achieved.

Italian and British trade unions are united in the view that action to promote European growth requires the promotion of social justice and workers’ rights. Delocalisation, longer working hours and increased job insecurity are more likely to depress the European economy than stimulate it. And without action to promote more and better jobs, adequate social protection, lifelong learning and care for children and the elderly, Europe’s citizens will not support the further liberalisation of European markets, or the promotion of greater political integration.

In that context, the British and Italian trade unions agreed that trade union and employer involvement in EU economic and social governance is more vital than ever and must be strengthened. In this respect they call upon Italian and British employers organisations to adopt a more pro-active and positive attitude in the European Social Dialogue whose capacity to deliver needs to be improved. The two delegations share the view that unions themselves need to adopt more global and European approaches to organising, recruitment and collective bargaining; they commit themselves to strengthen the ETUC role and strongly support it in fostering common trade union action at European level.

The British and the Italian Trade Union leaders agreed also on the need to rebuild and strengthen multilateral institutions and policies to address existing conflicts and to promote peace, social justice and full respect of human and trade unions rights in the world.

Concerning the forthcoming ICFTU Congress the leaders hope that the unification process can lead to a new world trade union organisation which acts as a stronger counterpart of the international institutions, able to influence the economic and financial choices in the policies of these organisations and representing a powerful tool to counter the present negative social impact of globalisation. In order to reach this aim, however, it is not sufficient the mere sum of two organisations.

It was agreed to repeat such summits at least every two years, and to strengthen joint work and exchanges of information and delegations in between.

1.1 The Italian trade union movement is the largest numerically in the European Union, with a total of over twelve million trade union members organised in three union confederations, all of which are affiliated to the ETUC and the ICFTU. The membership figures are inflated by the inclusion of pensioners (although the nature of Italian pensions means that some of these are still employees), but nevertheless, there are more working trade union members in Italy than in Britain, and a smaller labour force. The three confederations are, in order of size, the Confederazione Generale Italiana del Lavoro (CGIL) - originally the communist-oriented federation; the Confederazione Italiana Sindicali Lavoratori (CISL - previously linked with the Christian Democrats, which broke away from the CGIL in the 1940s); and the Unione Italiano del Lavoro (UIL) which was originally a socialist breakaway from CGIL. The three confederations often act in concert, although there is also considerable rivalry.

1.2 The impetus for a bilateral came from discussions in the ETUC and ICFTU where the Italian and British trade union movements exhibited a need to develop better mutual understanding. In addition, the TUC is seeking to develop more strategic partnerships with trade union movements in Europe and globally, and bilaterals were held with the leaders of the CGT from France and the DGB from Germany (two of the other larger trade union movements in Europe) in London earlier this year. Accordingly, the TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber, Head of EU and International Relations Owen Tudor and the TUC’s Brussels office policy officer Elena Crasta travelled to Rome on 4-5 November for separate meetings with the General Secretaries and International Secretaries of CGIL, CISL and UIL, and a meeting with representatives of all three.

1.3 In addition to these meetings, the UK Ambassador to Rome hosted a reception at his residence for Italian trade unionists, employers, politicians and journalists.

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