[Italy] European forum of alternative trade unions

On 10 and 11 September 2022, the European Forum of Alternative Trade Unions was held in Rome. After a long and interesting debate on the economic situation of working men and women in the various countries, the following texts were shared:

1) The organisations meeting in Rome on 10 and 11 September 2022 affirm their support for the trade union and social struggles currently taking place in Europe, against the austerity and misery policies imposed by the capitalists with governments and institutions at their service. Especially:

• We support the inter-professional day of action organised in France on 29 September against austerity and in support of the Ukrainian non-governmental trade union and social resistance. We will organise initiatives in several countries to support this action, for example the day before, on 28 September.
• We support the initiative ‘Rights! No deaths!” initiative on 30 September and 1 October 2022 in Brussels against discrimination against migrants.
• We support the united demonstration of Spanish state pensioners on 15 October 2022 in Madrid for the raising of pensions and wages according to the increase in the cost of living and we will ensure an international presence on this occasion.
• We support the general strike that the Italian grassroots unions are preparing for the end of November or the beginning of December against the war and the war economy. We pledge to prepare delegations from our various organisations to support the events that will take place in Italy.

Support for trade union action in each country is essential. But it is not enough. We must organise one or more international actions. The prospect of Italian action may be a first objective to be achieved, so we must check in each of our organisations and in each of our countries whether this is the most relevant objective or whether we need to set a further date. There is an urgent need for our trade unionism to take the initiative in an internationalist manner: by organising the struggle for the defence of wages, working conditions, public services and popular incomes, against inflation and taking into account the ecological emergency and the need for disarmament, starting with nuclear disarmament.

The current war context that involves us at the European level in an unbearable war economy poses the need for reflection on international trade union policies and commits us to an in-depth examination of the issues.

2) The European Forum of alternative trade unions, meeting in Rome on 10 and 11 September 2022, expresses its solidarity with the antimilitarists and anti-militarists gathered in Coltano these days.

It reiterates its opposition to the construction of yet another military base and to the increasing militarisation and devastation of the territory

The participating alternative trade union organisations will meet in December 2022 in Paris for another forum:

• take stock of the initiatives networked and implemented in the various countries;
• deepen the laws and practices on the right to strike and trade union representation in the various countries with fact sheets;
• evaluate proposals for possible initiatives to be implemented in the months following the Paris Forum;
• invite the alternative trade unions of the countries directly involved in the Ukrainian conflict and develop a discussion after consultation by means of a questionnaire and a text expressing the position of each individual organisation on the issue of war.

The alternative grassroots unions are thus meeting in Paris and, should it be necessary, undertake to keep each other informed via the network and to implement other initiatives.

LDA – Varese Italy, CGT Spain, Cobas Sardegna Italy, Confederacion Intersindical Spain, CUB Italy, FAU Germany, Federation Syndicale Sud Switzerland, Solidaires France, Unicobas Italy, USI-CIT Italy

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