What can and should a trade union do if it tries to enforce rights along Christian principles? Gian Luigi Ferretti, head of UGL, the Italian Christian trade union with 2 million members, responsible for international relations, said this at the IV. He gave an opinion at the EuCET (European Civil Cooperation Council) conference.
In theory, trade unions fight for the interests of employees, but when we examine the situation in Hungary, we have doubts in many cases. It is enough if we only think of the (so-called) Democratic Trade Union of Teachers, who incited against the government for clearly political purposes, while supporting the opposition parties whose representatives in Brussels prevented the payment of the money due to us, which could be used for salary increases. And when this did happen, they continued to harass. It is true that this (and similar) trade unions are indisputably a remnant of the party-state times.
A Christian-based trade union certainly cannot do this - and the Italian example shows that it does not.
- For me, as a conservative trade unionist, the most important thing is the welfare of the employees, but we do this not only in a material sense, we interpret the issue much more comprehensively. Let's say extended to the family. In September, I was lucky enough to attend a family conference here in Budapest. I just mention that I always enjoy coming here, because for a conservative person, coming to Budapest is like going on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem for a Jew, going to Mecca for a Muslim, or finally going to Rome for a Catholic. At the family conference, a very important principle was emphasized: the family is the basis of everything. This is also served by the family policy of the Hungarian government.
I don't know if you Hungarians can understand what kind of political and cultural revolution your leader, Viktor Orbán, has started? Thanks to this policy, patriotic European parties began to grow stronger and achieve electoral success, such as Georgia Meloni in our country. These successes all stem from the vision represented by your truly amazing leader.
It is understandable, what liberal Europe does not understand, why it is supported so much in Hungary and even abroad. I was lucky enough to participate in two great Peace Marches, first with 30 and then with 135 of our Italian trade union members, but next time we will come with five hundred, explained Ferretti.
– Returning to the family conference, we talked about very important things. About the role of the family, the balance between work and private life. In English, this is called "work life balance", which includes family, health and free time.
Employers should take note that the employee performs well if he is able to run the family well, which is the basic cell of the nation, the most basic organization of the homeland, and this is what can create the so-called well-being from a moral point of view, which in our case means moral well-being . We, as a trade union, try to achieve this and help.
The path to the desired goal can lead to the desired goal in many ways, it can include greater flexibility, working from home, various discounts, personalized working hours, we are trying to move on this path with these steps, the union leader listed.
– The Italian situation is a bit special. While here in Central and Eastern Europe you and the neighboring countries suffered from the communist dictatorship, in the post-war period in Italy the communist party - which for a long time achieved 30 percent of the vote in the elections - permeated society with its Marxist, class-warfare ideology. A huge trade union confederation was created, which is still active today.
In 1953, i.e. 70 years ago, a handful of people had the courage to reject the Marxist, class-warrior position, instead espousing the idea of cooperation between workers and employers.
They represented this for the benefit of the homeland, for the benefit of society. It required enormous courage, some paid for it with their lives, the movement had more than 10 dead people who were murdered by the communists because of their views. You probably remember the notorious Red Brigades terrorist group, which operated with a communist approach and whose first action was to kidnap and torture the regional manager of UGL in Turin, then hang him naked on the gate of the FIAT factory.
What angered the communists the most was the fact that a trade union was operating that was not communist.
- Despite the attacks and attempts at intimidation, today we see that the dinosaurs are starting to die out, their number of members is decreasing dramatically, and ours is slowly increasing. In favor of a union that really represents the real interests of the workers. For example, we formulated the program that can be called the program of participation. This means,
we advocate that the employees participate in the operation of the company and share in the profits.
We believe that the worker, after having a decent basic salary that should ensure a satisfactory living, should practically become a shareholder. This is a kind of cultural revolution, so that the worker does not feel like a vulnerable object, but like a subject who is a co-owner of the business. This is a huge thing that has already started in Italy and other parts of Europe, said Gian Luigi Ferretti at the event.
Cover photo: civilek.info
