When one abandons, even temporarily, the mother of all political and
union battles—the battle over wages and the reduction of daily workinghours—by proposing and encouraging parliamentary political shortcuts, or
even worse, by colluding with government coalitions, defeat is assured.
---- In these early autumn notes, we are referring to the two major
trade unions, the CGIL and the CISL, which, once again, confirming their
enormous distance from the concept of political autonomy from the
various government coalitions and from the parliamentary " game ," even
if formally claimed in the more or less formal declarations of their
leadership groups, can only lead to a further and even more disastrous
defeat for the workers' movement.
Regarding the new direction of the CISL, we have repeatedly highlighted
its now collateral support to the government forces, clearly rewarded by
the entry of the former general secretary Luigi Sbarra, as
undersecretary of the Presidency of the Council and further strengthened
by the combined provisions of the recent approval of the popular
initiative law proposed by the CISL, " Participation in Work", on the
participation of worker representatives in the Boards of Directors, in
harmony with Article 46 of the Constitution, not coincidentally called
by the government " Provisions for worker participation in the
management, capital and profits of companies" and the last congress last
July, where the new secretary, Daniela Fumarola, in the presence of the
government leader Giorgia Meloni herself, highlighted the " new"
strategy of her organization, already explained at the CISL Lombardy
congress with these exact words: " We are pleased that Prime Minister
Meloni and the president of Confindustria Orsini have opened up to this
prospect. We are ready. There is no need for a head-on confrontation. It
takes courage combined with participation.....This must be done." be the
season of dialogue, comparison and participation, a journey that has
reached its goal with the approval and entry into force of our law on
participation which must now become an opportunity for economic and
cultural growth in every single company, in every single territory,
through a new, inclusive model of industrial relations which strengthens
consultation, co-responsibility and dialogue" (1)
We believe it is unnecessary to add further to highlight the CISL
leadership's staunch commitment to a fully fledged " yellow union"
strategy, in the classic sense of the term. This refers to unions of
convenience, created and supported by employers and which, while
presenting themselves as workers' representatives, actually act in
accordance with the employer's interests, often to the detriment of
workers' rights.
Another reflection regarding the CGIL.
This is a union that still presents itself, but above all, conceives
itself as a progressive and left-wing force due to its more than one
hundred-year history. The need for conflict with employers still
manifests itself, in part, as a necessary practice in the social arena.
However, the increasingly obscured practice of concertation, defined and
approved by its leadership since the last century, continues to impede
the relentless battle for the emancipation of the working masses and
their natural allies, youth and women. It is enough to recall, albeit
briefly, the total capitulation of the leadership and its general
secretary, Bruno Trentin, over the 1992 Escalator (Escala Mobile) wage
bill with the socialist Amato government, and the subsequent 1993
inter-confederal agreement with the government of former Bank of Italy
governor Carlo Azeglio Ciampi on the policy of concertation. Its last
National General Assembly, therefore its highest governing body, held
last July, by failing to even minimally criticize the CISL's new
direction, but instead highlighting yet another fruitless
inter-confederal meeting—the CGIL, CISL, and UIL with Confindustria—as a
positive outcome, once again postponed a necessary self-criticism
regarding the referendum defeat. It outlined a supposed union strategy
for the upcoming season, which includes participation in the
Perugia-Assisi March for Peace and Fraternity on October 12th and the
usual, now hackneyed, autumn demonstration against the upcoming budget.
It did so without even establishing a concrete program for wage and
regulatory action, nor defining a generalized battle for the reduction
of working hours. It also failed to identify any clearly acquisitive
objective with respect to the worsening social conditions of the working
masses and the younger generations. The indication is a generic shopping
list indicating as primary objectives (and what else should a union do?
Editor's note) such as: " income (wages, renewal of the National
Collective Labour Agreements, pensions); fiscal justice; social status
and people's rights (education, healthcare, non-self-sufficiency,
housing, social security, demographic policies); industrial policies,
infrastructure, PNRR, investments, contracts, health and safety, fight
against precariousness; Southern Italy." (2) without proposing a battle
and a clear and unifying objective for all workers, the only useful and
necessary path for a recovery and a recovery of union representation in
the workplace in order to modify the current balance of power.But, in
our opinion, the greatest error, typical of reformism as well as
political maximalism, lies in the ruling groups' belief that advancing
the social conditions of the working masses ultimately requires
parliamentary political representation, which inevitably reduces and
extinguishes social conflict, projecting the strength of the working
class onto parliamentary or institutional grounds, rather than onto
class-based ones, as was the case with the referendums. The ruling group
doesn't seem to understand, in a sort of amnesia that inevitably becomes
complicit with the various government and employer groups, that the
greatest victories of the organized labor movement occurred when the
greatest progressive and left-wing force, the Italian Communist Party,
the largest communist party in the West, was outside government circles.
From the Workers' Statute of the 1970s, to the unique point of the
Escalator (Sliding Scale), reached in 1975 under Agnelli as head of
Confindustria (the Italian employers' federation), as well as the
Basaglia Law, Law 180 of 1978, the first and only framework law that
mandated the closure of mental hospitals and regulated compulsory
medical treatment, establishing mental health services, moving on to Law
392 of July 1978 on fair rent, which aimed to guarantee fair rent
proportionate to tenants' income, up to Law 883 of December 1978 on the
National Health System, which abolished the system of various mutual
funds and mutualistic organizations that, in addition to the diversity
of services provided by different production and work sectors, left
large segments of the population uncovered. Leaving aside the distant
so-called national unity governments of 1976 and 1979 under the
Andreotti government, which, despite not featuring ministers from the
then PCI (which would deviate from the meaning of these notes), the PDS,
heir to the former PCI, entered the government fully with its own men
and ministers in 1993, in the government of the aforementioned former
governor Ciampi. It is therefore entirely responsible for that period
and the subsequent workers' defeats, which still fuel the sense of
distrust and alienation of the working masses and the younger
generations from union and thus political militancy. This analytical
bias, on the part of the CGIL leadership and even many middle managers,
is highly detrimental to the fate of the exploited working masses.
This desire to surrogate the need for a " party" by effectively
abdicating the true and real meaning of the class and trade union
struggle, also advocated by regional leadership levels, as in the case
of the clear voting direction by the Tuscan regional secretariat in
favor of the center-left candidate Giani for the upcoming regional
elections, is substantially echoed also in the final document of the
National General Assembly, where a suspension of the assemblies for the
next national congress is even envisaged on the occasion of possible
national political elections, citing as the reason that " on the
occasion (of which the elections) our organization will have to make its
independent contribution to involving and encouraging workers,
pensioners, young people and young people to participate as widely as
possible in democracy." Thus, in addition to failing to engage in any
self-critical reflection regarding the referendum strategy and the
further stinging defeat it suffered, we continue to fail to sufficiently
reflect on how and why the majority of abstentions in recent referendums
were precisely workers aged 40 to 60, that is, the most " stable and
secure" workers . In the last general election, 30 to 40% of CGIL
members voted for the government lists, with a particular preference for
Giorgio Meloni's Brothers of Italy. While we are not particularly fond
of parliamentary logic and claim our political abstentionism, it is
clear even to a child that any political affiliation with left-wing or
so-called progressive groups depends on and is contingent on the real
conditions experienced by the working class and the new workforce. If,
for about two generations, exploitation has been on the rise in the
workplace, and wage and hourly conditions, as well as legal ones, are
tragically negative, leading to constant conditions of blackmail and
precariousness, solidarity cannot be the dominant aspect of society, nor
participation in public political and cultural debate. Instead, a sense
of distrust and detachment will prevail, fueling abstentionism on the
one hand, or rewarding, from time to time, " the Lord's anointed." on
duty, be it the mafia real estate developer, wheeler-dealer, and
womanizer Berlusconi, the millionaire comedian Beppe Grillo, the
people's lawyer Conte, the technocrat Draghi, or even the post-fascist
Giorgia Meloni, in the hope of safeguarding the strictly corporate
interests of their respective classes, a typical option of the middle
classes, from freelancers to shopkeepers to small-time bosses, in a "
every man for himself" logic that is the philosophy and maxim of all
right-wing parties and all conservatives, self-described, more or less,
as sovereignists or nationalists, all intent on making capitalist
development optimal, fluid, and perpetual. Schizophrenia, in its lexical
meaning of splitting or fragmentation of the mind, becomes even more
evident when our progressives are exalted by the victory in the
primaries for mayor of New York City of the Democratic candidate, the
33-year-old " socialist" and Muslim Zohran Mamdani. A landslide
victory, of over 12 percentage points (56% of voters against 44% of the
former governor Andrew Cuomo) which has aroused lively interest and
support from many world economists of the calibre of James K. Galbraith,
Professor of Economics, University of Texas at Austin or Yanis
Varoufakis, former finance minister of Greece in the first Tsipras
government. (3)
Mamdani's platform prevailed is a classic, if not reformist, platform.
Beyond the concrete possibility of implementation in a single American
metropolis, it focuses on the basic needs of the working masses, such as
the right to housing, with the provision of a rent freeze for over 2
million tenants and a long-term commitment to building at least 200,000
additional rent-stabilized public housing units. Expanding and making
most of New York City's bus lines free, increasing bus ridership by over
30%, providing significant economic relief to low-income New Yorkers,
and significantly reducing violence against drivers. Free and universal
childcare, as exorbitant childcare prices exclude parents, especially
women, from the workforce, stifling productivity and pushing families
out of the city. This would create additional, high-quality jobs in the
care economy, which would generate a multiplier effect that would
benefit the entire city. Finally, to counter the soaring food prices
that the new Trumpian policy is fueling and driving, Mamdani proposes
municipal supermarkets; a "public option" that could leverage economies
of scale to provide healthy food at affordable prices. These municipal
supermarkets would sell basic necessities at wholesale prices,
leveraging public purchasing power and economies of scale. They would
eliminate food deserts and offer New Yorkers immediate relief from price
gouging.
As you can see, there's nothing particularly revolutionary, much less
anti-capitalist, but what's clear is that to gain the trust of the
proletarian masses, policies and objectives must be direct, clear,
precise, and functional. Immediately improved material conditions.
Only in this way can participation and activism be restored. Regardless
of those who babble, particularly among so-called progressive and trade
union sectors, about the " complexity" of the contemporary world, or
even sectors of the supposedly radical and so-called antagonistic left,
about the " new paradigm" of social conflict and the novelties of the
ongoing social conflict, once again it is the usual and notorious
material conditions and, above all, the objectives and proposals
outlined for real improvement in the social condition of the exploited
masses—essentially, the balance of power between the fundamental
classes, bourgeoisie and proletariat—that determine whether or not
participation and generate political consensus. A broad and radical,
general and unitary conflict must be constructed, precisely identifying
the objectives to be pursued and demanded.
Set a long-term battle on comprehensive objectives
such as a new sliding wage scale and a tenacious battle for the
reduction of daily working hours.
the historic battle for the reduction of daily working hours must be
resumed and relaunched at an international level
After the South Korean government's opening to a 64-hour week (4), the
battle over working hours is becoming even more bitter and necessary on
a global level for workers' resistance organisations, also due to the
new US employers' front, which, in the most technologically developed
sectors, is trying to turn back the clock to the beginning of the last
century, requiring a daily commitment of 12 hours for a total of 72
hours per week. The reference is the Chinese 996 model (5) which is
increasingly establishing itself as the normal condition of the working
conditions required of the new workforce.
In China, after years of growing worker protests, the Chinese government
has formally begun cracking down on this practice, although it is still
widespread and common practice, even in high-tech sectors. Adrian
Kinnersley, an American entrepreneur who runs several companies,
especially in the field of artificial intelligence, was surprised by the
number of startups that are going all-in on 996. To compete with rivals
and with China, American companies are adopting this practice. " It's
becoming more and more common ," he says . "We have several clients for
whom 996 availability is a prerequisite for selecting candidates even
before the interview ." (6) Rilla, an AI startup that helps freelancers
negotiate higher rates, says nearly all of its 80 employees adhere to
the 996 schedule. "There's a very strong and growing subculture of
people, especially my generation, Generation Z, (the current workforce
born between the early 1990s and the early 21st century) who grew up
hearing the stories of Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, entrepreneurs who
dedicated their lives to building revolutionary companies," explains
Will Gao, the company's chief growth officer . "Kobe Bryant (the famous
American basketball player who died in 2020) dedicated every minute he
had to basketball, and I don't think many people would argue that he
shouldn't have worked that hard ." (7) Rilla lists its job ads as:
He clearly states that employees are required to work more than 70 hours
a week, advising those who are not "enthusiastic" about the schedule not
to even apply. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are offered in the office
every day, including Saturdays. Then there are the employers who propose
996 as an option for the most devoted employees, creating a two-tiered
structure in which only some are required to work extra hours. “
California is the epicenter of AI, where much of the 996 culture comes
from, despite having the most employee-friendly labor law in the United
States,” Kinnersley states (8) . This is the reality of the class
struggle in the metropolises of US imperialism and in non-marginal
sectors of the capitalist economic and financial structure. It is
therefore necessary to clear the ground of false myths and chauvinistic
policies, which have the result of tying the fate of the working classes
to the needs of national employers. The demand for greater
competitiveness and increased productivity, often present in union
platforms, has no other outlet than worsening working conditions for
workers, as is clearly evident from the demands of American employers,
justified by the competition and defeat of other imperialist competing
economies, China first and foremost . Here is how, in a recent interview
with IL FOGLIO on July 28, the head of Confindustria, Orsini, addresses,
from his perspective, the necessary strategy for competitiveness of our
products on the global market: " We need to make a leap and compete with
the United States with facts... redirect the funds not spent on the NRRP
to investments. A second priority is to create the conditions to provide
incentives to small, less productive businesses to pursue mergers... an
immediate acceleration in free trade agreements with Mercosur, ASEAN,
Australia, South Korea, and Taiwan." But even more evident and clear is
the management strategy that the Governor of the Bank of Italy, Fabio
Panetta, indicates in his Concluding Considerations of the annual report
for 2024, presented on May 30, 2025.
Faced with a demand for wage increases, even from some employers, the
Governor is blunt: " The central problem remains productivity. The
increases achieved so far are encouraging, but they are not enough to
support the country's development. The low level of wages reflects this
weakness."
za: since the beginning of the century, in line with stagnant
productivity, real wages have grown much less than in other major
European countries”.
The greater dynamism of the American economy is identified with the
ability of that " entrepreneurial fabric to continually renew itself
thanks to new companies capable of establishing themselves in the most
dynamic markets." The reference, though not explicit, is precisely that
practice of 1996, that is, the ever-necessary increased productivity to
compete and establish oneself in new markets, which means a return to
proto-capitalist conditions in working conditions: a 72-hour workweek.
There is no other way within the capitalist economic system.
A third condition is not given. Either through greater productivity and
greater competitiveness, we succeed in winning on the global market, to
the detriment of other workers in other economies and nations—but this
means a continued deterioration of working conditions and increased
exploitation of the workforce—or we embark on a battle for better
working conditions aimed at the liberation of all working people. Anyone
who wishes to remain faithful to this historical perspective, however
confusedly, requires a profound and clear self-criticism of the
political and trade union strategies proposed to date. Otherwise,
whether consciously or unconsciously, we are responsible and inevitably
complicit.
Note:
cisl.it/notizie/primo-piano-For further reflections and analyses on the
Cisl see CANTIERE n° 18 June 2023, n° 25 April 2024, n° 35 May 2025
Final document of the CGIL National General Assembly of 24 July 2025
https://progressive.international/wire/2025-06-19-economists-unite-in-support-of-zohran-mamdanis-plan-for-new-york-city/en
CONSTRUCTION SITE No. 35, May 2025. “If eight hours seem too few to you”
CONSTRUCTION SITE No. 25 April 2024. “For a May Day of struggle and
resistance”
https://www.wired.it/article/orario-lavoro-996-startup-silicon-valley-72-ore-settimanali/
Idem
Idem
https://alternativalibertaria.fdca.it/
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