second report on struggle of cleaning workers in italy

text in deutsch
(february 23th, 2002)

This report is again based on meetings with CUB-workers and newspaper articles: On Thursday the 14th of February representatives of the FS (railways), the government and the official unions CGIL, CSIL and UIL met in order to break the strike of the workers. They decided to postpone the decision on the tender on the cleaning-contracts till May. Without any guarantees or promises regarding the dismissals and cuts the unions cancelled the strike that was planned for the 18th and 19th of February. Furthermore, a committee was set up that will investigate the traffic-blocking during the strike and impose fines on the participating workers.

The FS argued, that it cannot oversee the planned cuts and dismissals because there are about 70 contracts out for negotiation (with different private companies). Still, the government talked about 3000 workers who will be made redundant.

At the moment there is no open struggle, but the situation has not really changed and the decisions on the dismissals will be made by early April. Meanwhile some activists of the base union CUB and supporters of the strike try to set up more links between the workers in different towns. There will be a meeting of railway-workers from base unions and other initiatives mid-March. In Milano there are also plans to organise public local assemblees of the cleaning-workers.

Questions remain, for example:
- Why did the workers allow the cancellation of the strike for the 18th and 19th of February?
- What is the relation between the immigrant and the "italian" workers? Did it change during the strike?
- What forms of communication and coordination already exist among the workers?
- What is the role of the unions, the "official" ones as well as the base unions?

We'll stay on track...


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