SOUTH AFRICA: The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) reports that the first day of strike action at the X-Strata Chrome company in Rustenburg has received overwhelming and favourable support from the 800 workers who have vowed to continue with the strike until their demands are met.
Last week, Numsa and the chrome-making company failed to resolve the two-month-old dispute in the conciliation meeting with the Engineering Bargaining Council. The union declared a dispute against the company’s voluntary separation package and the layoff of 200 workers. The company is paying laid-off workers 25 per cent of their basic salary, including attendance bonus and housing subsidy, plus 50 per cent of their provident fund contribution, and is guaranteeing insured benefits. It has suspended workers’ medical aid membership.
According to the union, the company acted in breach of its obligations by refusing to accede to Numsa demands on severance packages and layoffs. Workers are taking the industrial action because the company failed to conclude the matter through normal dialogue.
The response of the employers has not been at all dignified, says Numsa. “The only conclusion we can draw from these illogical responses is that the company is opening up old wounds.”

GERMANY: On June 19, 2001, IG Metall finalised negotiations for a collective agreement on qualification and further training in the region of Baden-Württemberg, where a lot of well-known metal companies such as DaimlerChrysler, Bosch, Porsche, ABB, etc. have manufacturing plants.
The agreement provides that every employee is entitled to a regular evaluation meeting with the employer in which the necessity for qualifying measures and further training will be determined. All costs connected with this training will be covered by the company.
It also says that, in cases of personal qualification measures, the employees will have a right to a limited release from work, although they have to pay their own costs for this personal training.
The agreement covers all employees of a plant, and no group of employees will be excluded. Details must be negotiated in the plants.
IG Metall now expects employers’ associations in other regions in Germany to start negotiations for similar agreements for their own regions.br> The breakthrough was only possible following warning strikes in a number of plants in which more than 200,000 metalworkers participated and after a 15–hour marathon negotiating round.
For IG Metall this agreement on further training is an important cornerstone for a qualitative collective bargaining policy and a key to securing competitiveness and jobs in the metal and electrical industry of Baden-Württemberg.

ROMANIA: Last Friday, the leaders of the trade union at the Resita steel plant, part of the members of the Union Committee, the president of the local branch of the National Trade Union Confederation Cartel ALFA and the general secretary of the National Trade Union Federation (NTUF) METAROM decided to adopt a hunger strike beginning on Tuesday, June 19, 2001, in reaction to the attitude of the representatives of the American owner, Noble Ventures, with regard to the very difficult situation confronting the Romanian plant.
A short history of the details are:
— In June 2000, the American company Noble Ventures bought the majority stock of the steel plant from Resita.
— In January 2001, the plant’s production process was stopped.
— Since April 2001, the employees have not been paid.
— During this time, the union’s leaders were forced to work under pressure and were continually harassed by the owner’s representatives.
The Resita trade union is an affiliate of the NTUF METAROM and has 2,500 members. Its members are determined to continue the strike until the production process is restarted and salaries have been paid.
Source: NTUF METAROM

AUSTRALIA: The Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union (AMWU) has launched a television campaign criticising the Howard government’s record on manufacturing jobs. The advertisements depict a drowning man gasping for breath as a politician, walking along a pier, ignores his plight.
The advertisement says that 75,000 manufacturing jobs have been lost under the present prime minister, John Howard. “Now, more than ever, it’s crucial that the Federal Government backs Australian manufacturing. There’s too much at stake to just walk away.”
The AMWU general secretary, Doug Cameron, said the Howard government promised to create 200,000 manufacturing jobs when it came to power. Instead, he said, during the government’s incumbency there had been a manufacturing job deficit of 275,000 jobs.
“This is creating huge insecurity, huge problems for workers and their families as they lose jobs,” he said.
“And it’s going to be an ongoing problem for the Australian economy as we become more and more reliant on coal, wheat and iron ore, and we’re simply seen overseas as a quarry, a farm and a nice place to visit.”
Sources: The Age and the AMWU website

KOREA, REP: In the wake of a continued nationwide strike launched by 50,000 members of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), the Supreme Public Prosecutor’s Office has been busy issuing a string of arrest warrants against dozens of key trade union leaders.
Last Friday, June 15, at 4:30 a.m., 30 to 40 plainclothes policemen were deployed to KCTU headquarters for a search and seizure operation and to arrest KCTU president, Dan Byung-ho. They were met, however, by KCTU members and withdrew two hours later after determining that the Confederation’s president was not in the office. That same afternoon, at 5:00 p.m., police raided the office of the Korean Air Flight Crew Union and confiscated union documents. In the past several days, police have continued making or threatening attempts to arrest President Dan, including waiting for him at a KCTU press conference and standing guard outside KCTU headquarters.
Already this year alone – and the year is only half over – 113 workers have been jailed for their union activities. By imprisoning 552 trade unionists in just three and a half years, the South Korean president, Kim Dae-jung, has far outpaced former President Kim Young-sam’s record of 507 trade unionists in five years.
Source: LabourStart/KCTU.

Unsere australischen Mitgliedsorganisationen werden an 9, und 10. November einen Begrüssungsstand errichten, um die Teilnehmer am Flughafen in Empfang zu nehmen. Die Delegierten, die früher oder später eintreffen, möchten bitte notieren, dass alle 30 Minuten ein Flughafenbus fährt, der vor allen Hotels anhält, in denen die IMB-Delegierten wohnen werden. Der Fahrpreis beträgt 7 Dollar, während ein Taxi, das je nach Verkehr etwa 30-40 Minuten bis zur Innenstadt braucht, ungefähr 30 Dollar kostet.

Le nostre affiliate australiane allestiranno un Welcome Desk venerdì 9 novembre e sabato 10 novembre per accogliere i delegati all’aeroporto. Per i delegati che arrivano prima o dopo queste date, informiamo che esistono servizi di Airport Shuttle ogni 30 minuti, che si fermano in tutti gli alberghi dove i delegati della FISM sono alloggiati. Il costo è di 7 dollari. Con un taxi, ci vogliono tra 30 e 40 minuti a seconda del traffico, per un costo di circa 30 dollari.

Våra australiska medlemsförbund kommer att möta deltagarna på flygplatsen fredag den 9 november och lördag den 10 november. Deltagare som anländer tidigare kan använda sig av flygplatsens matarbuss, som går varje halvtimme och stannar vid alla hotell där deltagarna är inkvarterade. Biljettpriset är 7 australiska dollar. En taxi tar omkring 30-40 minuter beroende på trafiksituationen och kostar runt 30 dollar.

BY DAVID FOWLER
The fact that a new edition of the IMF’s popular biennial survey, The Purchasing Power of Working Time, comes out at a time when the Swiss annual Watch and Clock Fair announced booming sales is purely coincidental (although it is also good news for the highly-skilled Swiss watchmakers, members of the IMF through their union, the FTMH). No, although living in Switzerland, we are not obsessed with time…. well, not in the abstract, but yet with the value of working time as it affects metalworkers’ standard of living and, of course, quality of life.
As the IMF has already found out, anyone seeking to carry out such a comparison on the basis of earnings is faced with a pretty formidable task. In fact, a straightforward comparison of converted currencies generally leads only to greater confusion. For this reason and based on many years of experience, the IMF opted for the working hour solution.
OLDER TRADITIONS DIE HARD
One hour is 60 minutes in whatever part of the world; it is inflation proof and, fortunately, not vulnerable to stock market speculations. Having said that, be warned. An accurate comparison of standards of living is beset with a number of difficulties, all of which will not be covered in this article for fear of losing reader interest. A brief glance at the explanation given on the calculation of net earnings based on purchasing power parities in the notes at the end of the study will illustrate what I mean.
The global village may be bringing people closer together and television programmes, much the same in many parts of the world, but older traditions die hard. Bread may be the stuff of life in Western countries, but staple foods in other countries differ — potatoes or rice, “some like coffee, some like tea”. Consumer choices also differ, and that also includes priorities, i.e. what consumer goods or indeed other goods are needed most?
Many IMF members come from Muslim countries and eat lamb, while other religious denominations can eat pork. Petrol in Venezuela, it used to be said, was cheaper than water. Certainly overcoats and snow boots are not very useful in the tropics. Other influences can also play an important role. Let me give you an example.
CHANGING LIFE STYLES
The recent scare about BSE followed by the epidemic of foot-and-mouth disease has created havoc in consumer preferences. Those who are not already vegetarian are changing lifestyles, eating less meat or switching to other diets. South African exporters of ostrich meat claim that demand has increased by 10%-15% in three months. Exports of frozen shrimp from Thailand rose by 63%. Increased demand for kangaroo meat may lift exports by 30%, worth about US$20 million. There seems to be some truth in the proverb that “it is an ill wind that blows nobody any good”.
SEVEN INDUSTRIAL SECTORS
Those readers already familiar with the IMF databank will find The Purchasing Power of Working Time a horn of plenty. One-hundred and seventy-nine pages of tables, graphics and explanatory notes covering 63 countries and seven different industrial sectors, plus one for the whole of the manufacturing industry, provide a mine of information for any trade union negotiator looking for data to support a claim using international comparisons of purchasing power. In effect, it is a truly invaluable source for research.
The survey, published at the end of 2000, is based on net hourly earnings expressed in the working time needed to buy a wide range of consumer goods, after social security deductions.
The data has been calculated on price levels for medium quality goods, e.g. clothing, durable consumer goods and monthly expenses for rent — all applicable to a main industrial town in the countries mentioned.
Industrial branches covered are basic metals, machinery and equipment, electrical machinery and apparatus, radio, television and communication equipment and apparatus, motor vehicles, shipbuilding and repair, aircraft and space vehicles.
Comparisons are made between the time that has to be worked to buy food, clothing, fuel, rent, durable goods, income tax and social security.
A KILO OF BEEF
Readers and researchers of The Purchasing Power of Working Time will of course have their own reasons for making comparisons. These can be for collective bargaining or even just curiosity to find out where the workers in their country or industry stand in the international league table.
For the purpose of this article, I have made an almost arbitrary choice, by way of illustration and to give some idea of the differences in standard of living between metalworkers across the world.
My first choice concerned a steelworker or similar job in a basic industry buying a kilo of beef in a developed country, in this case Japan, where the price for the purpose of our comparison would be 1 hour and 40 minutes. An Australian steelworker, in another highly industrialised country, but one with a highly developed agricultural sector, would only pay the equivalent of 49 minutes working time.
In a newly emerging economy, i.e. Brazil, with both a large basic industry and an extensive agricultural economy, a metalworker in heavy industry would be even luckier, paying slightly less with 47 minutes, for his beefsteak.
Taking a developing country on the African continent, the price would be five times as much. A Romanian steelworker is even poorer off and expected to pay 3 hours 41 minutes of his labour for his kilo of roast beef.
BUYING A CAR
For many years, a guiding principle, repeated in numerous IMF collective bargaining seminars and used in countless negotiations, was that a worker should earn enough to buy the products of his manufacture.
The question I asked myself, therefore, was “what chance had any autoworker, in whatever part of the world, to actually purchase the fruits of his labour?”
My first choice was, not surprisingly, the USA. Here one finds that an autoworker could expect to buy a medium-sized automobile for the price of 986 hours and 53.5 minutes of work. A West German autoworker would pay only 764 hours and 39 minutes, i.e. 23% less. A South African metalworker in this industry would have to work much harder to achieve the 4,851 hours and 32 minutes to realise his ambition, while for a Turkish worker, in a middle-range economy, the price would be 2,772 hours 11 minutes, something over half the price.
At a more mundane level, I was curious to know how much it costs to walk. A shipyard worker in South Korea, for instance, will work for 14 hours 35 minutes to buy a pair of shoes. A Polish boat builder will pay a little less at 14 hours 7.5 minutes while an Indian worker employed in shipbreaking will expect to pay a little more at 17 hours 29 minutes.
Most fortunate is the Danish shipwright who will only pay the equivalent of 4 hours 33.5 minutes. Most expensive of all is the price paid by the Greek shipyard worker whose shoes will cost 23 hours 13.5 minutes!
A TELEVISION SET
In this age of information technology, high tech, and the revolution in telecommunications, where no home is complete without a television set, the electrical and electronics industry is probably the fastest growing sector of the metal industry.
TV sets and electronic components are produced by many of our members, particularly in Asia and in the “maquilladores” of Mexico, where prices, however, often remain high. In Japan, an electrical worker can buy a new television receiver for about 19.5 hours work. In Italy, workers in the same industry find prices only a little bit higher at 23 hours 17 minutes.
Electrical workers in the developing and often producing countries Malaysia, Hong Kong and Mexico have to toil for respectively 154 hours 35 minutes, 85 hours 48.5 minutes, and 145 hours 43 minutes to buy the same set!
JAPANESE COMPANIES MOVING
Labour costs have been named as one of the main reasons for the Japanese companies quietly moving their manufacturing overseas. Japanese manufacturing now conducted outside Japan is almost 15 per cent up from 9 per cent five years ago. Household names such as Aiwa and Fujitsu in the electrical and electronics industry recently announced plans to shift production to cheaper locations in Taiwan, Korea, and China. Yamaha, the world’s second largest motorcycle maker, also in the metal industry, is to move 90 per cent of its total scooter output to Taiwan. Meanwhile Taiwanese officials have been facing criticism of the hollowing out of their own industries as Taiwanese companies make even lower cost ventures in mainland China. Such is the progress of globalisation. Will this result in cheaper products in the host countries? More purchasing power for a shorter working week?
Readers will find no information on working time in China in the IMF publication, simply because the IMF has no affiliates there. Some of our members, however, may be familiar with a recent publication of the Danish Metalworkers’ Union “The Global World of Metalworkers — Six Portraits from a Changing World”, which compares prices in working time of a metalworker Ding Tei Bing, a machine operator from the east coast of China: for milk 13.5 minutes and a colour television set 142 hours, compared with Denmark at 2.5 minutes and 15 hours, respectively.
INFLATION RATES OF OVER 1,000 PER CENT
After even a superficial look at the IMF statistics in The Purchasing Power of Working Time, one is left with the overwhelming impression of the disparity between earnings in one country compared to another. For this, many factors are responsible. One could recall that it is not so many years ago that inflation rates of over 1,000% were experienced in some countries of Latin America. If prices go up and wages stand still, more hours have to be worked to buy the same goods and services. Nothing can change that.
The relentless search for cheaper labour costs by the multinational corporations, such as the prohibition of trade unions, poor safety conditions, long hours of work and low wages, wage and other discrimination between men and women workers, the causes are legion and one doesn’t have to look far to find them. Speculation and global slumps in raw materials and commodities, or a rise in the price of energy can ravage the economy of a developing country, to say nothing of increases in oil prices, corruption and political scandals, not to mention natural disasters. These fluctuations, of course, are reflected in the statistics that the IMF collects and often tell their own story.
AMONG THE BETTER PAID WORKERS
Today it is fashionable to talk of globalisation, yet way back in 1893 the IMF delegates at its founding congress resolved that each country should report every three months on, among other things, “the average number of working hours” and “the average wages”. Perhaps at this time currencies were more stable and comparisons, given similar conditions in member countries, more reliable. IMF pioneers were then not unaware of the impact of international developments on their own countries and economies. The difference today lies, perhaps, not so much in kind as in the degree and speed of international integration.
Metalworkers, wherever they may be, have tended to be among the better paid industrial workers, but a glance at some of the IMF tables sadly bears out the truth that the rewards of globalisation, expressed as a direct concern for decent living standards, have yet to be incorporated in the principles of world trade.
“ONE HOUR FOR THE FUTURE”
If the engine of globalisation continues to be profit and not solidarity, there will be more emphasis on being competitive and less on public service, more attention given to market shares and less to fair shares. If one needs a good example of solidarity, one only has to look to the contribution of metalworkers at Volkswagen in Germany. Under the slogan “One hour for the future”, autoworkers created an entirely new concept of the purchasing power of working time. Since autumn 1999, VW workers have each donated one hour of their annual pay towards sponsoring projects for street children run by local institutions where the VW group has operations. In its first year, the scheme recorded a collection of 3.4 million German marks (US$1.7 million) for children in need. Also making their contribution to “One hour for the future” were workers of other group companies such as Audi, Sachser, Seat, Skoda, VW Brazil, VW Brussels, VW Financial Services, as well as VW suppliers and business partners, retired employees, IG Metall local offices, various action groups and private donations.
Some of the cities where projects are being sponsored are São Paulo, Brazil; Uitenhage, Kwanobuhle and Cape Town, South Africa; Puebla, Mexico; Hannover, Halle, Bad Dürrheim and Hamburg, Germany.
As an end note, no comment on the goods and services that an hour of work will provide would be complete without the reminder that women spend two thirds of their working hours on unpaid work (men spend just one fourth), and most of these hours are spent in caring work, for which the market gives almost no rewards.
The “Purchasing Power of Working Time” can be downloaded from the IMF’s website under “Publications.” Hard copies may be ordered from the IMF website under “Do you know,” by e-mail on [email protected], or by fax: +41.22.3085055. It is available in English, German, French and Spanish.

BY STIG JUTTERSTRÖM
The spring sun is shining from a blue sky on the huge balcony outside Giorgio Caprioli’s office. It is situated on the top floor of the building belonging to the Italian metalworkers’ unions, at Corso Trieste in the northeastern part of Rome, with a wonderful view over the eternal city. Caprioli is the leader of the second biggest one. With its Christian (Catholic) history, culture and traditions, it is natural that its headquarters is at the top, closest to heaven.
Caprioli has an academic background with a degree in political science, specialised in economics and sociology. He says that early on he had a dream to work with the trade unions and in 1978 one of the three confederations in Italy, the CISL (Confederazione Italiana Sindicati Lavoratori, the Italian Confederation of Workers’ Trade Unions), was looking for an expert in training in his native town of Bergamo. Caprioli became that expert and his dream was realised. After four years, he moved to Milan, the regional centre of Lombardy and Italy’s second biggest city, and to the metalworkers’ union FIM, an affiliate of the CISL. Ten years later, in 1992, he became a secretary at the FIM headquarters in Rome, responsible for the steel industry, organising issues, bargaining and work organisation.
Since 1998, Giorgio Caprioli is the general secretary of the FIM. He also represents the three Italian metalworkers’ federations on the IMF’s Executive Committee.
The Italian trade union movement is divided into three confederations, and the metalworkers’ unions as well (see the fact box below). Several attempts have been made to unify them but without success. 1969 marked the beginning of the first structural attempt at unification. In 1972, these efforts led to the foundation of the Unitarian CGIL, CISL and UIL Federation, a transitional compromise solution that hopefully should have been followed, in a second stage, by full organic integration. However, this second stage never materialised.
SITTING IN THE SAME BUILDING
Q: The three unions are already sitting in the same building. When do you think the next attempt will be made to unify them?
A: At the present time, it is difficult to forecast another date for a possible unification. There are different reasons. The first is what kind of connections the unions have with politics. The CGIL has chosen to have a main connection with the parties on the left, a model which is typical also for the Nordic countries. Left means the Democratic Left (Democratici di Sinistra, the former Communist Party). It is not an institutional connection but more a political, psychological and cultural one. The CISL, to which the FIM is affiliated, has by tradition the idea that the union has a great and deep autonomy to the government and the political parties. We have a lot of opinions within the union, and it is the same for the UIL. Another reason is regarding the content of union actions, especially in bargaining. The CISL thinks it is necessary to give more power at local level. Italy is a country with big differences between the regions and between enterprises. Decentralised bargaining is more able to keep the specifics of the local situation. The CGIL is more in favour of centralised bargaining A third reason is how the unions react to the changes in the economy and in the society. The FIM thinks that the task of the union is to bargain to influence the direction in which the changes are going. The FIOM has more the idea to organise resistance against the changes.
NATIONAL AGREEMENTS ARE IMPERATIVE
Q: Do you mean that they are more conservative than your union?
A: In some way, yes. It’s a paradox. Thinking by tradition, being to the left is to be more innovative, but it’s not the case in Italy. We have some people to the left who are not innovative. If you are conservative or progressive depends on the way the union faces changes in the society.
Q: How important is it for the trade unions to resist employers’ attempts to dismantle the national collective agreements?
A: Very important. Although the FIM believes that we have to give more power to decentralised bargaining, we think that national agreements are imperative. We want to maintain them. The national agreement is the tool that guarantees all workers a minimum of rights. It is especially important for the workers in small enterprises which have only the national bargaining. It’s a sort of solidarity.
Q: Where are Italian trade unions the strongest, at local or central level?
A: It’s an equilibrium between the centre and the periphery, but a great majority of the activists are in the workplaces — 10,000 of our 190,000 members. We have 350 fulltime officials. Twenty-five are here in the headquarters; all the others are in the regions or at the local level. It is about the same in the other unions.
INCREASED VISIBILITY ON THE POLITICAL STAGE
Q: The trade unions in Europe are in decline, according to a new report from the European Trade Union Institute, based in Brussels, Belgium. In Italy, the proportion of the workforce in trade unions has decreased, from 49 per cent in 1980 to 38 per cent today. How do you explain this?
A: There are three reasons. Firstly, it was the price we had to pay for the policy of responsibility. The unions made an agreement with the government concerning pension and wage increases that was not popular. Secondly, the number of workers has decreased in the big companies such as in the steel and car industry, where the unions usually have been strong, and increased in the small business enterprises, where it is difficult to organise. Thirdly, we have our traditional difficulty to organise what is now an increasing number of white-collar workers and technicians. Here, we have a common problem with the other unions in Europe.
Q: The same report says that the unions have increased their role of visibility on the political stage. Especially after 1996, when the centre-left Prodi government took office, the trade unions have indubitably increased their influence. “But,” says the report, “this greater political influence has raised new problems, above all in relations with the rank and file.”
A: Yes, this is one of the negative consequences of having too much centralisation. In the last 10 years this centralisation was necessary in order to heal the country’s economy. The unions made some important general agreements about the economy to fight against inflation. But today, the healing of the economy has been realised and we need to give more power to the rank and file.
Q: In an interview given to the Italian newspaper La Republica, the American economist and Nobel Prize winner Paul Samuelson has praised the Italian trade unions for their role in the modernisation of the society. “For years you (Italy) have been walking along a razor’s edge, and the unions could have given you the fatal push. They didn’t do so. Perhaps you don’t realise it, but the unions are the jewel in your crown.”
A: I agree with Paul Samuelson (big laugh). Otherwise we would have had an economic catastrophe.
NO BARGAINING, NO UNION
Q: You have raised the issue of benchmarking the transnational companies (TNCs) within the International Metalworkers’ Federation. How would you like to realise this idea?
A: The fundamental proposal is that the trade union must be able to bargain also on the international level. Bargaining is the goal and the task of the union — no bargaining, no union.
Our counterpart, the transnational companies, have a great deal of power and are able to bypass the law in some countries. They are violating trade union and human rights, often with government complicity. The IMF has great potential because we have unions in so many countries which we are able to link up in order to check the behaviour of multinationals in every part of the world. The main issue is to bargain with the TNCs to obtain a social code of conduct. We should establish a system in order to check their behaviour by obtaining information from trade unions in all countries where the company operates. Then we have a tool to ensure that in every country this code of conduct is respected and are able to attack them on their image. They are spending a lot of resources in order to protect their image and reputation.
Q: Could you describe how you would like to use this information?
A: The IMF can make known the behaviour of the TNCs, their violations of human and trade union rights. This is a powerful weapon if we learn to use it. My idea is that the IMF every year could publish a white paper with the documentation of companies’ good and bad behaviour. This should also be published on the Internet. We could start with some companies, here in Italy for instance Fiat/General Motors, the space enterprise Alenia and the multinational SKF. Thereafter, we can step by step enlarge the number of companies. We are looking for a list of all the multinationals which have their headquarters here in Italy.
A YEARLY TRADE UNION ACTION DAY
Q: You have also proposed a trade union action day. What is that?
A: My third idea is that we, as unions, could organise a worldwide action day to protest against what the TNCs have done to violate trade union rights, human rights and the environment. At the entrance of all metalworking factories in the world, there should be a flag or a poster in order to show that unions are fighting for fair goals.
Q: How have your proposals been received by other metalworkers’ unions?
A: I feel that we have the wind in our back. The three unions in Italy share this view. And we have got a good reaction, especially for the action day, from unions in North and Latin America, South Africa and Asia. In Europe, I’ve got support from the Nordic countries.
Q: And how do you think all these ideas would affect the IMF?
A: There has been a good discussion in the IMF. There is a lot of will and many people want to transform a good discussion into good action. The IMF has to transform from coordination to bargaining on international issues, such as social clauses, labour rights and so on. But not on wages and other national issues, not for the moment at least.
BERLUSCONI’S RETURN TO POWER
Q: You have recently got a new right-wing government with Silvio Berlusconi as prime minister. How will his return to power affect the Italian trade unions?
A: I’m very worried because during the election campaign his programme was similar to Margaret Thatcher’s experiences in the UK. It is also, to a great extent, the same programme as that of the Italian employers’ association. But as always, the trade unions will judge the government by its actions.
Q: Berlusconi’s first period as prime minister ended in failure, and he had to leave after six months. Do you think the same thing will happen now?
A: No. He has a large majority in the parliament so will probably last for five years to the next election.
Q: The Italian metalworkers conducted a national strike action on May 18. Do you think it was successful?
A: In the negotiations for a new collective agreement, the three metalworkers’ unions have demanded an increase in wages to cover inflation for the last two years, but the employers have offered a wage increase which is lower than the real inflation. 1.5 million workers are involved in the agreement and 80 per cent took part in the strike, which means more than a million workers.
Q: Are you surprised so many took part in this action?
A: Yes, I was not sure that we would be able to involve the young workers. But they came out with the older workers. That was a good surprise and gives hope for the future. In spite of Berlusconi.