The budget law under discussion in Italy will further aggravate the already dramatic living conditions of millions of people, including workers, students, the unemployed and retirees. The government headed by Giorgia Meloni will continue the on-going attack on the working class, initiated by previous governments supported by the Democratic Party (PD) and the 5 Star Movement (M5s).
PdAC (Communist Alternative Party) leaflet on CGIL (Italian General Confederation of Labor) and UIL (Italian Labor Union) strikes
Specifically, this budget bill will hit the poor and unemployed and reward the wealthy, increase precariousness with the introduction of vouchers, and cut more resources to education and health care. The economic crisis, exacerbated by the pandemic, has left a million jobs by the wayside (mostly affecting women!) and thousands laid off through closures, restructuring and relocations.
At the same time, a contract renewal of 40 euros net per month was signed at schools, without even one hour of strike; and important collective bargaining agreements such as the CCNL (National Collective Labor Agreement in commercial sector) rubber-plastics, which includes the tire giants (Pirelli, Michelin, Bridgestone, Yokoama, etc. ) and the CCSL of the Stellantis, Ferrari, Cnh and Iveco groups, are renewed on the basis of platforms that confirm the notorious system of so-called “industrial relations” that have impoverished workers and fattened union bureaucracies in recent decades: from bilateral bodies to contractual welfare, via tiered funds and the strengthening of second-tier contracting.
We cannot go on like this! We must stop them and repel the attacks of the capitalists and their governments! And for that it is necessary to unite and radicalize the struggles, because the strike is a struggle, not an exhibition, and the struggle must be incisive, it must strike the class enemy just as the bosses strike the workers: only four hours organized regionally, without prior mass meetings and communicated to the workers just one day before, only serve to wash the dirty conscience of some bureaucrat! We cannot stop there! The deductions and tax exemptions that the leaderships of the confederal unions are clamoring for today will be paid tomorrow with our pensions and with the universal and public services for all: stop cutting pensions and the welfare state to protect the vast profits of the Paperoni [the richest in Italy]!
We call on all working men and women of all unions to unite in the struggle against the common class enemy: the capitalists and their governments! We must follow the example of workers in other countries – from France to England – who are organizing protracted strikes to repel all attacks by the bosses and their governments.
Moreover, in Italy we must unite all the current conflicts in struggle, starting from the exemplary mobilizations of the workers of Alitalia, Gkn, Almaviva Gse, Whirlpool, ex Ilva, etc., towards a great general strike for all the public and private sectors, as a first step and turning point on a path of prolonged mobilizations that goes beyond the assemblies in the factories and puts the real protagonists of the class struggle back at the center: the workers!
First Published at www.partitodialternativacomunista.org, 12/15/2022.
Translation by: John Joseph
