2023-07-27 20:57:16
Interview conducted by the editorial staff of the PdAC website, Italy
In the Stellantis factories, the capitalist noose tightens more and more around the neck of the working class, attacked from several fronts, but not for that reason knocked down. We talked about this with Roberto Tiberio, a worker at the FCA Italia plant (formerly Sevel), an activist with Slai Cobas de Chieti, as well as a member of Alternativa Comunista.
Roberto, the much-discussed renewal of the Stellantis specific collective labor agreement (Ccsl) has been signed: has anything changed compared to the previous one?
The changes made with respect to the previous contract are unfavorable for the workers. First, the signing took place on March 8, and the full text of the contract was kept hidden for months; the only news was given to us through a one-hour (!) assembly of the territorial secretaries… Now, after four months, the national delegates deigned to present this contract, coldly, perhaps expecting a calm reaction from the workers. Basically, the new CCSL (1) bets even more on flexible hours, therefore, greater freedom on the part of the company for overtime, productive recovery and shifts. As far as salaries are concerned, we are far from recovering the inflation points of recent years, and economic incentives are linked to the logic of production or to the increasingly invasive corporate welfare quotas. Confidence in the “joint commissions” (commissions in which the employers and union bureaucrats are part) has been renewed.
that have proved useless for supervising working and safety conditions and compliance with work cycles. For all this great work, the signatory unions have seen fit to ask the workers for a “contract fee”…
Given these premises, the atmosphere in the factory must not be one of the best…
Absolutely, there is an increasingly overwhelming pressure on the lines [de producción] that threatens the psychophysical health of workers. The work rhythms are taken to the extreme, the necessary rest times are lacking and this also affects the mood of those who see few outings. The use of leaves and the few remaining rights of workers are hampered, and they are blackmailed if they are not willing to submit to the will of the company regarding overtime or to accept in silence the increases in the load of work. There is a mix of resignation and anger, and it doesn’t help that those who are supposed to protect the working class don’t care.
Are you referring to the addresses of the signatory unions?
Yes, especially Fim and Uilm, which are the majority unions in the factory: they play the role of guards in defense of the capitalist boss. Their story is well known, but in recent years they have unequivocally demonstrated what their task is. The contract at Stellantis is not the result of a negotiation, but of an attempt to fully support the will of the employer, to maximize profits against the interests of the working class, without offering resistance. I will not dwell on the economic side, since the loss of wages is clear; it is the conduct in the factory that is disconcerting. The signatory delegates are only concerned with maintaining control over workers and lining their pockets through pension and health funds. They renounced the strike by contract trying to convince the workers that it is an obsolete and useless means to demand rights and better working conditions. The famous “cooling off procedure” provided for by the CCSL is its emblem: in case of problems, or under pressure from the working class, the signatories meet around a “negotiating table” with the bosses to discuss solutions to adopt, but a smoke screen; the goal is to take time and dispel bad moods. The reality is that they have no intention of interfering with the bosses’ plans, containing the workers as much as possible. And, as I mentioned before, they did not hesitate to ask unregistered workers for a fee for signing the contract, with the infamous silence/assent method. Here too, before it was official, they blatantly lied about this deduction with ridiculous explanations, then promptly disproved by the facts.
So it seems that, at the moment, the only ones who can start a workers’ protest in Stellantis are the rank and file unions. In the recent past there have been strategic divergences. How are you moving in Slai Cobas also in relation to Usb and what are the next initiatives?
Like Slai Cobas we raised the dust about the contract fee. As soon as we became aware of the withholding, we launched a series of initiatives in this regard, with press releases, internal strikes and, above all, with the distribution of a form that we designed with the aim of denying this withholding. We have assumed the responsibility of protecting workers who do not want to accept such extortion: the response has been very positive, a sign that the initiative was fair and timely.
In recent months, with worsening working conditions and increasingly repressive company policies, there have been very successful strikes, focused on specific events. The most notable cases were a strike called against an employer who regularly punished some workers who did not lower their heads with deceptive disciplinary measures and a strike in the paint shop due to the unbearable heat on the production line. In these cases, the massive participation of workers blocked production.
On the subject of workload and security, there are still ongoing strike initiatives, some shared with Usb, which are having a good response, although we must take into account the dirty work of the leaders and delegates of Fim and Uilm and the ambiguous behavior of those from Fiom, who practically remain outside the fight. As for Usb, understood as a union address, a precision is necessary. There are differences, such as the signing of the Tur – the unified text on representation (2) – that makes it impossible to share a broad-based strategic approach, but as Slai Cobas we have the duty and the will to unite the working class from below to oppose it to the employer, and shared strikes, as well as assemblies are a useful tool for us to take our position to the largest number of workers possible, without compromise. The factory workers union will be at the center of the next initiatives.
Roberto, one last question: looking at the issue from a broader perspective, do you think that the union struggle is enough to revive the fortunes of the working class?
I would say not. We in our party are well aware that the hardships of the working class are due to the capitalist system that oppresses us, but I find that this seemingly self-evident concept is not fully understood by many workers I associate with. The union struggle, therefore, is perhaps a more immediate and heartfelt struggle in the short term, it can and should be the first and necessary step to acquire a useful awareness to look beyond, for the construction of the party and the revolution.
(1) Stellantis is not a member of Confindustria – it left in 2012, at the time of Marchionne’s management, after a season of worker strikes in the group – and for this reason it has a work contract by company (CCSL), not subject to to the CCNL (the National Collective Labor Agreement, stipulated between the union leadership and Confindustria).
(2) On our site you will find several articles on the implications of the Tur, this is one of the most recent:
www.partitodialternatecomunista.org/articoli/sindacato/rappresentanza-sindacale-giu-le-mani-dei-padroni-dalle-rappresentanze-dei-lavoratori
Article published in www.partitodialternativacomunista.org22/6/2023.-
Translation: Natalia Estrada.
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