Maneuver, the challenge of the squares
SYRACUSE. Two more strikes by CGIL and UIL and the national CISL demonstration: this is the week of the challenge of the squares. After the 60 thousand gathered in Rome last Friday on the occasion of the first of the strikes proclaimed by CGIL and UIL, today the two confederations responded in Sicily, in Syracuse to be precise, where over ten thousand from all over the city marched through the streets of the city. the island to contest the government’s maneuver. The general secretary of Uil, Pierpaolo Bombardieri, concluded the event from the stage. «We ask for a change in this maneuver – said the Uil leader – first of all because there is an issue that concerns wages and pensions which have suffered a loss of purchasing power of 15%. And then there is an issue that concerns safety at work, taxes, pensions. Instead of addressing these issues, the Government attacks us on the right to strike. The truth is that people continue to die at work, the same people continue to pay taxes and, once again, pensions are raised, with workers and pensioners saving 68 billion. And again: what happened to the policies for the South? How do we revive employment? How do we avoid the escape of many of our children, given that today in Sicily the number of pensioners has equaled that of workers?”.
According to Bombardieri «for us the square and participation remain tools of democracy to represent a thought that is not completely aligned. We therefore ask for respect – concluded Bombardieri – for all those who will take to the streets today, in Sicily, and in the next few days, in other areas of the country”.
The timetable drawn up by CGIL and UIL foresees a new appointment for next Friday when all the Northern regions will mobilise. All the sectors that did not stop on Friday 17th will go on strike for 8 hours or for the entire shift. The general secretary of the CGIL Maurizio Landini will speak in Turin, that of the Uil Bombardieri in Brescia where the main demonstration organized in Lombardy will be held.
The following day, Saturday 25th, it will be the turn of the CISL, which despite criticizing the budget law did not agree with the choice of CGIL and UIL to call the strike. «Participate to grow: improve the maneuver, build a new social pact»: this is the slogan of the national demonstration that the union led by Luigi Sbarra will hold in Piazza Santi Apostoli in Rome. The aim of the initiative is to change some negative aspects of the budget law, especially on the pension plan, and to launch the challenge of a “social pact” and an “Agenda 2024” based on social protagonism in the identification of growth and cohesion policies.
