Italian Confederation of Trades Unions

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CISL
Italian Confederation of Trade Unions
Confederazione Italiana Sindacati Lavoratori
Founded1950
Headquarters Rome, Italy
Location
  • Italy
Members
4,507,349 (2008)
Key people
Luigi Sbarra, secretary general
Affiliations
Website cisl.it

The Italian Confederation of Trades Unions (Italian : Confederazione Italiana Sindacati Lavoratori, pronounced [koɱfederatˈtsjoːneitaˈljaːnasindaˈkaːtilavoraˈtoːri] ; CISL [tʃizl] ) is a national trade union centre in Italy representing various Catholic-inspired groups linked with Christian Democracy party.

Contents

It was founded on 30 April 1950, when Catholics in the Italian General Confederation of Labour (CGIL) left after they clashed with the Italian Communist Party on the issue of a general strike provoked by the latter. Like the French Force Ouvrière (FO) union, it received financial support from Irving Brown, leader of the international relations of the US AFL–CIO and a CIA contractee. [1]

Structure

The CISL is formed on two levels: a vertical one, grouping workers according to employment (such as transport, banks, and teaching), and the confederation itself, representing all categories. The base of the latter is formed by districts (or Unioni territoriali), grouped in regions. On the national level, CISL ensures cooperation of various branch organisms within the territorial hierarchy. The confederation holds regular Congresses that elect members to leadership positions.

History

After a difficult start and numerous disagreements between various trade unions represented, CISL managed to gain a voice through its representatives in the Italian Parliament, asking for increased and autonomous presence of the companies partly owned by the state. In 1956, owing to CISL initiatives, the latter had separated from the employers' group Confindustria and had formed the Intersind  – meant to establish a new base for relation between the state and trade unions. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the confederation coordinated strike actions of the metalworkers and workers in electromechanics, as well as the labour dispute in Milan. Its great success came in 1963, when it negotiated with electromechanics employers new bonuses, means of promotion, and awards in accordance with increased productivity. Nonetheless, trade union activities on factory grounds remained exceptionally difficult, and workers attempting them risked being sacked.

When the Italian economy sunk in the mid-1960s, CISL suffered an internal crisis as numerous of its branches believed the political function of the union to be incompatible with its labour goals. The 6th Congress it held in 1969 sanctioned the view, and renounced its activities in Parliament.

The following years proved to be especially tumultuous for Italy as a whole: while traditional trade unionism was being reshaped by the student movement and secondary impact of the decolonization and Third World ideologies, the local scene saw the advent of terrorism of the Red Brigades and the Neo-Fascist Strategy of tension (carried out by the National Vanguard). CISL doubled its specific activism with an advocacy of democracy, siding with the civil society. In July 1972, it co-founded the Federazione unitaria, meant as a transitional group, which became a rather bureaucratical institution. CISL signed an agreement with other national federations in 1975, calling for a readjustment of the salary-pension balance, as well as for a new minimum wage. Federazione unitaria also proposed a new tactic at its Congress in 1978, calling for a larger perspective of the unions – one mindful of the national economical policy. In 1983 CISL founded ISCOS, Trade Union Institute for Development Cooperation.

The gradual decrease of inflation in the 1980s and 1990s (again at under 10 per cent in 1984). The state intervention in the economy in order to decrease labour costs was sanctioned by the population in the 1985 Italian referendum, after being backed by accords in which the CISL played a major part (the policy was opposed by the confederation's left-wing, as well as by the CGIL and the Italian Communist Party). The CISL was part in two protocols with the Italian executive, in 1992 and 1993, both of which agreed to allow tight control of the inflation rate and government debt. From 1994 onwards, it convened to the creation of the Rappresentanze sindacali unitarie (Unitary Representatives of Trade Unions), a trans-federative organism meant to ensure a preliminary democratic agreement on all labour matters, and also intended as a step towards a new single trade union.

General Secretaries

YearsNameParty
1950–1958Giulio Pastore DC
1958–1977 Bruno Storti DC
1977–1979Luigi Macario DC
1979–1985 Pierre Carniti PSI
1985–1991 Franco Marini DC
1991–2000 Sergio D'Antoni DC/PPI
2000–2006 Savino Pezzotta UDC
2006–2014 Raffaele Bonanni Ind.
2014–2021 Annamaria Furlan Ind.
2021–Luigi Sbarra Ind.

Affiliates

Current affiliates

UnionAbbreviationFoundedMembership (2010) [2]
Federation of Energy, Fashion, Chemistry and Related Workers FEMCA2001128,292
Federation of Entertainment, Information and Telecommunications FISTEL199750,803
Federation of Innovation and ResearchFIR3,940
Federation of Italian Electricity Company WorkersFLAEI194917,518
Federation of Self-Employed and Atypical WorkersFELSA200947,653
General Union of Growers UGC198373,337
Italian Federation of Agriculture, Food and the Environment FAI1997199,020
Italian Federation of Commercial and Related Services and Tourism FISASCAT1948233,887
Italian Federation of Construction and Allied Workers FILCA1955298,953
Italian Federation of Metal Mechanics FIM1950212,377
Italian Federation of Tertiary Services Networks FIRST2015N/A
Italian Transport Federation FIT1950118,015
MediciCISL Medici20058,129
National Federation of PensionersFNP19482,201,864
National Safety FederationFNS200915,060
Public Function FP1999326,180
Scuola CISL Scuola1997229,027
Union of Postal Workers SLP199368,075
UniversitàCISL Università10,385

Former affiliates

UnionAbbreviationFoundedLeftReason not affiliatedMembership (1954) [3]
Autonomous Union of Italian Railway WorkersSAUFIMerged into FILTAT10,292
Federation of Chemistry Federchimi19501981Merged into FLERICA44,239
Federation of EnergyFederenergia1981Merged into FLERICAN/A
Federation of Energy, Resource, Chemical and Related Workers FLERICA19812001Merged into FEMCAN/A
Federation of Entertainment and Information FIS19851997Merged into FISTELN/A
Federation of Food and Tobacco FAT19811997Merged into FAIN/A
Federation of Postal and Telecommunication UnionsFPT19841997Merged into FISTELN/A
Federation of Public FunctionariesFFP19841997Merged into FPIN/A
Federation of Public EmployeesFPI19971999Merged into FPN/A
Federation of Seamen, Air and Fishing WorkersFILM38,007
Free Italian Federation of Mining Industry WorkersFederstrattive10,573
Italian Federation of Agricultural Employees and Labourers FISBA19501997Merged into FAI361,500
Italian Federation of the Arts and ProfessionsFAPI4,058
Italian Federation of Bank EmployeesFIB19501981Merged into FIBA14,658
Italian Federation of Bank and Insurance Employees FIBA19812015Merged into FIRSTN/A
Italian Federation of Book Workers Federlibro19501985Merged into FIS13,995
Italian Federation of Health Workers' UnionsFISOS19501997Merged into FIST20,688
Italian Federation of Insurance Company WorkersFILA1981Merged into FIBAN/A
Italian Federation of Local Government EmployeesFIDEL19511984Merged into FFP66,137
Italian Federation of Local Government WorkersFILSEL19931997Merged into FISTN/A
Italian Federation of Public ServicesFederpub19501984Merged into FFP10,234
Italian Federation of State WorkersFILSTAT19501984Merged into FIT63,117
Italian Federation of State WorkersFILS19931997Merged into FPIN/A
Italian Federation of Tax Service Workers3,900
Italian Federation of Territorial ServicesFIST19971999Merged into FPN/A
Italian Federation of Textile Workers FILT19501965Merged into FILTA150,456
Italian Federation of Textile and Clothing Workers FILTA19652001Merged into FEMCAN/A
Italian Middle School UnionSISM19641997Merged into ScuolaN/A
Italian Union of Local Post and Telegraph Agency WorkersSILULAP19501984Merged into FPT16,153
Italian Union of State Telephone WorkersSILTS2,169
National Federation of Auto, Rail and Inland Waterway WorkersFenlai24,068
National Federation of Farm Tenants and Owners85,163
National Federation of Port WorkersFenalporti3,920
National Federation of Quasi-Governmental and Government Agency WorkersFederpubblici13,514
National Federation of Sharecroppers and Smallholders Federcoltivatori19501983Merged into UGC102,688
National Union of Elementary Schools Sinascel19451997Merged into Scuola119,206
Union of State Monopoly Workers1981Merged into FATN/A
United Federation of Entertainment WorkersFULS1985Merged into FIS7,457
United Federation of Food Processing and Sugar Industry WorkersFULPIA19501981Merged into FAT42,735
United Italian Federation of Clothing Workers FUILA1965Merged into FILTA55,186

See also

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References

  1. ↑ The Most Dangerous Man, Time , 17 March 1952.
  2. ↑ "A presidio di Libertà, Giustizia e Democrazia" (PDF). CISL. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
  3. ↑ Mitchell, James P. (1955). Directory of Labor Organizations: Europe. Washington DC: United States Department of Labor. p. 17.7–17.12.
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