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NEWS & LETTERS, May 2002
Column: Our Life and Times by Kevin A. BarryItalian general strike
Some 15 million workers created
the biggest general strike Italy has seen in decades on April 16. Factories,
schools, banks, rail and air transport, and post offices all had to shut down as
workers came out to protest plans by the ultra-rightist government of Silvio
Berlusconi to modify Article 18 of the labor law. Enacted in 1970 under the
pressure of massive labor and student protests, Article 18 allows workers in
companies with over 15 employees to contest any form of dismissal in the courts.
This makes layoffs extremely difficult, giving the majority of Italian workers a
unique type of job security. The strike was so successful
that it could not be shown on TV, since the networks were also shut down by
strikers! In addition to the strike itself, some two million demonstrated in the
streets, most of them under the auspices of the large reformist trade unions.
However, the Cobas "unions from below" also attracted hundreds of
thousands to their demonstrations. Several events led up to April
16. In March, two million workers had demonstrated to defend Article 18. Many
trace the new stage of mass mobilization back to February, when over 40,000
people, including many prominent intellectuals, protested in Milan against
Berlusconi's attempt to undermine the judiciary. He has sought to curtail
independent judges from the "clean hands" investigation of corrupt
politicians like himself and also removed police protection from judges handling
Mafia cases. Others trace the new spirit of protest further back, to the
anti-capitalist demonstrations at the G-8 Summit in Genoa last July. Berlusconi, who compares himself to Britain's Margaret Thatcher, clearly intends to discipline labor. So far, he has spurned all attempts at negotiations over Article 18, claiming that his election by 45% of the voters in May 2001—vs. 44% for his left of center opponents—gives him the right to impose his will on labor. Italian workers, youth, and intellectuals see things differently. Under the impact of the anti-globalization movement, they have shown that they can challenge Berlusconi, who seems to believe that we are still living in the retrogressive Reagan-Thatcher 1980s. |
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