Tens of thousands of Italian metalworkers marched in Rome on Friday to protest a split in the union movement and a bid by the conservative government to introduce new labor laws.
Organizers said as many as 250,000 metalworkers, led by left-wing politicians Piero Fassino and Massimo D'Alema, took to the streets for the massive protest called by the mechanical branch of Italy's largest union, the communist-based Italian general Confederation of Labor.
Among them were assembly workers from Italian car-marker Fiat, as well as Ferrari and aeronautical group Alenia.
The CGIL called the protest over what it said was the decision of two others unions to break ranks on a long-standing collective deal with employers.
The Italian Labour Union, UIL, and Catholic centrist Italian Confederation of Workers' Unions (CISL), signed a new collective convention last July without the CGIL, whose leaders accuse the other unions of breaking workers' solidarity. The CGIL has a membership of four million.
Among the other politicians leading demonstrators, who converged in three large columns on St. John in Lateran square in Rome, were Fausto Bertinotti, head of the Refounded Communists and anti-globalization leader Luca Casarini. Marchers brandished banners attacking the centre-right government of Silvio Berlusconi, and placards accusing Berlusconi, Italy's richest man, of "knowing only how to steal" and of being the new "Il Duce", or leader -- a reference to wartime dictator Benito Mussolini.
They also protested new legislation announced by the government Thursday which hits at a long-standing trade union safeguard for sacked workers, Article 16 of the workers' charter. Italian manufacturers' association Confindustria welcomed the reform Thursday as "an important step towards flexibility," which would boost employment. Unions have said they will not let the matter rest there, and have scheduled a meeting tomorrow to discuss the legislation.
RSS