The second general strike within two weeks to also involve port workers – the most recent case dating back to last Friday, called both by autonomous unions like Si Cobas and Usb, and by the Cgil – has prompted a reaction from Genoese port terminal operators through the dedicated section of the local Confindustria.
The new president of the Terminal Operators section, Luca Becce (a Psa manager who will hold the position for the next six months pending the reassignment of roles), in fact sent a letter last Friday addressed primarily to the Prefecture, the Port System Authority, and the Police Headquarters, as well as to all signatories of the National Collective Labor Agreement (CCNL), to express “disappointment and regret at the repeated violation by a signatory trade union association (Filt Cgil, ed) of the contractual provisions regarding the right to strike in the port sector.”
Becce’s reference is to Article 49 of the National Contract, which dictates the self-regulation discipline of strikes, stipulating that “the proclamation of each strike must be communicated in writing with a minimum notice of 10 days.” A provision respected according to Confindustria for over 25 years and now violated twice in two weeks with “unilateral interpretations of the contractual rule that are very dangerous for the future and without even an attempt to open a discussion with the other signatory employer and trade union associations.”
The strikes mentioned by the CCNL are “national,” “regional,” “local,” “company” strikes, and the notice is excluded only in the case of proclamations related to “exceptional events (e.g., serious accidents in the port, attacks on institutions, etc.). It is on this exceptionality – more than on the distinct category of the “general” strike, not provided for by the positive rule but referenced in some acts of the Guarantee Commission – that the Cgil’s line is based (the proclamation referred to the attack on the Global Sumud Flotilla humanitarian mission, “an event of extreme gravity: a direct attack on the safety and security of the workers and volunteers on board. It is not only a crime against defenseless people. It is a blow to the constitutional order itself”). The role of the previous proclamation of a state of unrest as notice was also claimed.
In any case, Confindustria has asked the Prefecture to “verify and sanction the trade union associations for the legal and contractual violations committed on the occasion of the two strikes on September 19 and October 3; and to the Institutions called upon to protect public order, to guarantee the right to work for those who do not intend to join strikes, thus guaranteeing free access to workplaces.”
In this latter case, the explicit reference is “primarily to the president of the Western Ligurian Sea Port System Authority, so that he may defend his prerogatives and guarantee full accessibility of the port areas.” In this regard, Matteo Paroli confirmed that “the temporary restrictions at the /Albertazzi gates, partially affected by the pickets, and at the Etiopia gate were adopted exclusively for security reasons, without the overall functionality of the port ever being compromised. The Ponente gate, which guarantees access to all the commercial docks of Genoa Sampierdarena, and partly the San Benigno gate, remained open and active.”
The operational problems at the terminals were due exclusively to the (high) adherence to the strike by the terminals (in particular the Psa, Spinelli and Bettolo terminals).
Finally, Becce lashed out at the other “employers’ associations stipulating the national collective bargaining agreement for ports, so that they carry out an incisive initiative to protect the CCNL and in particular its article 49, also by considering actions appropriate to the gravity of the infringement committed” and the “local trade union organizations, to represent their firm rejection of this barbarization of correct trade union relations”.
A harsh reply from Filt Cgil: “We note, with regret, that the president of the Terminal Operators Section of Confindustria Genoa did not intend to heed the appeal of the National Filt which, just last week, also called on the companies in the sector to show the courage that the current, dramatic international situation requires. We would have expected concrete gestures of solidarity towards the female and male port workers, who have always represented a democratic stronghold in defense of peace, rather than a letter in which disciplinary sanctions are even evoked. We also return to sender the accusations of failure to respect the CCNL, whose full and correct application, on our part, has never been questioned.
This is not the first time that the president has adopted clumsy and provocative attitudes, in an attempt to fuel tensions and conflicts. This time, however, the gravity is even greater: evoking sanctions in a context where we are talking about tens of thousands of massacred victims is an unworthy and misplaced act. In recent days, many have tried to threaten workers, attacking the right to strike. But the workers will not be intimidated: they are ready and determined to forcefully defend the freedom and constitutional right to strike”.
A.M.
