This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

111510Z May 06

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ROME 001435 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV ELAB IT
SUBJECT:  ITALIAN LABOR: BACK AT THE POLICY-MAKING TABLE 
 
REF: A) ROME 1317 
 
     B) ROME 0584 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Summary:  The election of two former union 
leaders, Fausto Bertinotti of the Communist Renewal Party as 
President of the Chamber of Deputies, and Franco Marini of 
the Daisy Party as President of the Senate, will help bring 
Italian unions back to the table on social and economic 
policy formation after five years of being ignored by 
Berlusconi.  Prodi will need labor support for reforms to 
increase productivity and competitiveness, but unions remain 
wary of further social disruptions in a zero-growth economy. 
Based on their roots in the communist-radical/CGIL and 
Catholic-moderate/CISL union confederations respectively, 
Bertinotti and Marini may react differently as they face the 
need to convince their former union colleagues to support 
painful but necessary labor and pension reform.  The first 
test may come over efforts to amend or overturn the 2003 
Biagi law, which marginally increased labor market 
flexibility.  End Summary. 
 
¶2.  (U)  On April 29, Fausto Bertinotti, leader of the 
Communist Renewal Party, was elected President of the 
Chamber of Deputies.  Franco Marini, a leader within the 
Daisy Party, was elected President of the Senate.  Both are 
former union leaders.  Additional union members elected to 
Parliament include the former CISL Secretary General, Sergio 
D'Antoni, the number two in UIL (the third largest union 
confederation), Adriano Musi, and the former CGIL 
International Affairs Director, Titti Di Salvo. 
 
¶3.  (SBU)  Despite signing the 1992 Pact with Italy to bring 
social partners (government, employers, unions) into the 
decision-making process, Berlusconi largely ignored and 
marginalized unions during his five-year tenure as Prime 
Minister.  With a Center-Left government that won the 
election based on concerns about Italy's zero-growth 
economy, the unions want to come back to the policy-making 
table. 
 
¶4.  (SUB) However, the Center-Left has a long and vague 
platform for economic/social reforms that the new Prodi 
Government will have to prioritize and refine (Ref B). 
Challenges include proposals to overturn or amend the Biagi 
law that marginally increased labor market flexibility and 
to abrogate the Bossi-Fini law that controls immigrant 
labor.  Prodi will have to agree to move forward on delayed 
implementation of laws to extend the mandatory retirement 
age from 57-60 and to introduce private pension options for 
investing government retirement funds.  CSIL and UIL support 
amending the system of national sector-based collective 
bargaining agreements to allow more local flexibility, but 
CGIL disagrees. 
 
Bertinotti -- Still a Radical 
----------------------------- 
 
¶5.  (U)  Bertinotti dedicated his first Parliamentary speech 
to blue- collar workers, arguing that labor has been 
undermined in recent years to the point that employment 
instability has become a threat to society.  He then 
participated in a May Day rally promoted by trade unions 
where he was hailed as a champion of the working class. 
Bertinotti joined the (originally communist) CGIL 
confederation in 1964, became secretary of a local 
federation of textile workers and rose to become Regional 
Secretary from 1975-1985.  In 1972, he joined the Communist 
 
SIPDIS 
Party. His career as a union leader ended in 1993 when he 
founded the Communist Renewal Party that sustained (and 
eventually brought down) the 1996-1999 Prodi government. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Bertinotti, along with the current General 
Secretary of CGIL, has called for the repeal of the 2003 
 
SIPDIS 
Biagi law that marginally increased labor market 
flexibility.  Biagi critics claim that it provided employers 
with more flexibility, but only at the expense of increased 
uncertainty for part-time and contract workers who receive 
little or no pension benefits.  Bertinotti wants to block 
implementation of the change in the mandatory retirement age 
from 57-60.  He is also one of the extreme Left's most 
strident critics of the war in Iraq and supports immediate 
withdrawal of Italian troops. 
 
Marini -- A Conciliator 
----------------------- 
 
¶7.  (U) In his first address to Parliament, Marini 
identified his top political priorities as economic 
development and social cohesion.  Marini is the son of a 
blue-collar worker, a product of the Christian Democrat (DC) 
Party and the (originally Catholic) CISL union confederation 
that he joined during the 1950s. He served as CSIL General 
Secretary from 1985-1991 and during that time also was Vice 
 
SIPDIS 
President of the International Confederation of Free Trade 
Unions (ICFTU). As CISL General Secretary, he promoted 
tighter coordination with CGIL, and ultimately the practice 
of orchestrating labor policies between union confederations 
and the Government during the 1990s.  In 1991, he was 
appointed Minister of Labor under the Amato government. He 
founded the Italian People's Party (PPI) and led it from 
1996 to 1999. The PPI was the main successor party to the 
DC. 
 
¶8.   (SBU) Marini, like CISL, supports modifications to the 
Biagi law but recognizes the need to increase Italy's 
productivity and competitiveness.  He should be well-placed 
to broker deals between the government and the union 
confederations on economic reform.  Marini is a moderate on 
foreign policy and will support gradual withdrawal from Iraq 
in consultations with the Iraqi government and allies. 
 
¶9.  (SBU)  COMMENT:   The three major labor confederations 
have already called for a new round of talks with the 
Government to bring labor back to the table, and Bertinotti 
and Marini will work to smooth the inclusion of labor in the 
policy making process.  Prodi will need labor support for 
reforms to increase productivity and competitiveness, but 
unions remain wary of further social disruptions in a zero- 
growth economy.  Despite different points of view, 
Bertinotti and Marini both may be forced to convince their 
union colleagues to support painful and necessary reforms. 
The first test may come over efforts to amend or overturn 
the 2003 Biagi law. 
 
SPOGLI