Italian union federations split over national pact

After organising a massive joint general strike in April, Italy's three main union confederations have split over a new pact with the employers and the government.

While the two smaller union confederations, the CSIL and UIL, have signed the agreement, the largest, the CGIL, has refused to do so and has declared that it will continue with its opposition to government plans.

The pact signed at the start of last month deals with several separate issues, including the hotly disputed question of re-instatement after unfair dismissal, where the government's planned changes were a key cause of the general strike.

The new arrangements retain one of the changes of the original proposal - where companies take on extra workers and so exceed the 15-employee threshold from which unfair dismissal protection applies, workers dismissed unfairly will not be entitled to reinstatement. However, in contrast to the original plan, workers moving from a fixed-term to a permanent contract will continue to have reinstatement rights if they are unfairly dismissed.

Other elements within the agreement, known as the Pact for Italy, include: higher payments for the unemployed, although this is linked to an increased requirement for the unemployed to accept the jobs they are offered; lower taxes particularly for the lower paid; and the introduction of new employment safeguards when businesses are transferred.

CGIL has condemned the pact outright. General secretary Sergio Conferatti declared it to be "an appalling agreement, which cuts some people's rights and gives nothing to those who have none". He claimed that part of the aim of the pact was "to distort the role of the union".

On the other hand Savino Pezzotta, general secretary of CISL, argues that the agreement has put a stop to initial government attempts "to move away from joint agreements with the aim of destroying employment rights".

CGIL has indicated that it plans to call another general strike in the autumn as well as organising a referendum on the government's proposals.