Reforms must be tackled at a single table with the entire government
The new Board of Directors of the CSdL elected at the recent 20th Congress met for the first time yesterday afternoon in the CSU meeting room. The meeting was an opportunity to welcome the members elected for the first time and to underline the significant renewal that took place, with nine new entries, including several young people, while the presence of thirteen women is particularly satisfactory, representing 40% of the Director himself. The various interventions highlighted the full success of the 20th Congress from an organizational point of view but above all in terms of content and participation. No less than 33 delegates attended, and 62 were candidates for the Board of Directors, a sign of a renewed drive to actively participate in the life of the union. All the interventions highlighted the participation in the preconvention assemblies and in the congress phase. Many young delegates took the floor at the Congress with qualified and high-level speeches, also addressing very specific issues, making a significant contribution to the work and testifying their desire to be protagonists of the trade union movement. The CSdL considers that of young people, with their will to grow and learn, a fundamental resource for bringing about the necessary renewal and for giving a new impetus to the action and organizational perspective of the Confederation of Labor. The Director then unanimously approved the proposal of the Secretary General Enzo Merlini regarding the executive bodies of the Confederation and the appointment of officials. William Santi was confirmed as Confederal Secretary; Emanuel Santolini was elected CSdL official. All the other seconded members currently present in the Federations have also been confirmed. Based on the statutory changes approved at the 20th Congress, the Secretaries of the four category Federations (Industry, PA, Construction and Services, Retired), will automatically become members of the CSdL Confederal Secretariat. While FUPS has already re-elected Elio Pozzi as Secretary, in the next few days the other Federations will meet their governing bodies and will elect the positions, thus completing the Confederal Secretariat. The organizational proposal takes into account the fact that the Secretary General considers it necessary for the Federations to contribute even more to general policies, in those that have the greatest human resources. The Board then traced a state-of-the-art picture of the confrontation with the Government, reiterating the imperative need of the Congress to address the reforms under discussion or announced – pensions, labor market, tax system – in a single negotiating table with the entire State. So far the Executive in words has shared this same version, but without following it up; in fact, the meetings on pensions and the labor market are proceeding separately with the respective Secretaries of State while nothing is yet known about the tax reform. On pensions, the CSdL reserves the right to deepen the new proposals and the actuarial data arrived today, it being understood that the main objectives remain the protection of long-term careers and workers with strenuous activities, of women, many of whom have contribution periods. discontinuous, especially as a result of maternity and childcare, as well as guaranteeing decent social security benefits for the younger generations. In any case, annual funding from the state budget will be required, much higher than those currently foreseen. Regarding the reform of the labor market, the main and priority objectives for the Confederation of Labor must be the placement in work of the figures with greater difficulties, such as the unemployed over 50, women who have to reconcile working times with family life, people with disabilities. Instead of these priorities, much more marginal aspects were discussed, such as the work of the shareholders and directors of companies and retirees. With regard to the revision of the tax law of 2013 announced by the Government, the CSdL strongly believes that the absence of effective controls would make any reforms approve. For this reason, General Secretary Enzo Merlini reiterated the proposal – already made in his introductory report to the 20th Congress – to define a property tax aimed at large concentrations of capital and real estate, inconsistent with the declared. This tax could provide an adequate tool to achieve the necessary equity and to bring new resources to the state budget. In this regard, the strong concern over the enormous public debt, almost entirely caused by bank failures, is reiterated. The Government announced that the liquidity reduction of 150 million euros due to the repayment of the Cargill loan could be financed through the issuance of debt securities aimed at the domestic market. The doubt expressed by the Secretary Enzo Merlini is that in the current situation of economic and political uncertainty, citizens could buy these bonds, while the banks could turn out to be the real beneficiaries of this intervention too, thanks to the interest rates that the State would recognize. The CSdL Directive will probably meet again by the end of the year, to take stock of the situation on the 2022 forecast budget law proposal and in general on the state of confrontation with the Government.
CSdL