Landini to Mattarella: "Thank you for your constant closeness to the workers"

Landini to Mattarella: "Thank you for your constant closeness to the workers"

"Your presence honors us. You are the recognized guarantor of the unity of our Republic, the guarantor of our Constitution which does not exclude anyone, regardless of origin, religion and skin colour", said the general secretary of the CGIL Maurizio Landini thanking the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella, present in the room amid applause. "I thank you for your constant sensitivity and closeness to the living and working conditions of workers, to the entire world of work - he concluded -, which fights for the full recognition of one's rights, starting with safety in all workplaces. One must live from work, not die".

"The increase in military spending no longer determines security, but is to the detriment of the necessary investments in wages, health, education, new industrial and employment policies, and calls into question, in Italy and Europe, the stability of our social model", underlined the general secretary. "There have never been so many armed conflicts as today, often forgotten. War has returned to the natural order of things, it is replacing politics and diplomacy - he added -. International law is being trampled upon in Ukraine, Gaza, the West Bank, throughout the Middle East and in many other parts of the globe. All this is leading to a dangerous and unacceptable arms race, including the nuclear one, which also involves our own Europe". "Choices which, in our opinion, have nothing to do with the construction of a common European defense policy", remarked Landini who quoted the Pope's words, "we want to be builders of an unarmed and disarming peace. We want to be builders of a Europe that is based on cooperation, on the recognition of multilateralism - he continued -, on overcoming austerity policies and that builds a new European social model".

The climate crisis

"The environmental crisis and climate change" are "the product, as the scientific community says, of human intervention but also of an economic model based on quantitative growth and the condition that nature was an unlimited resource" and "now it is clear to everyone that production processes and product types must be changed", according to the secretary. In his speech he underlined that with the current geopolitical situation "it is time to choose by freeing ourselves from fossil fuels and investing in renewable sources: the sun, air, water and earth are a universal heritage that must be accessible to all humanity, not at the service of the market and wars". "This transition process - he underlined - requires an assumption of social responsibility by companies and a new public intervention, which together must guarantee people all the necessary tools, from income support, to training, to new investments in strategic sectors and supply chains, so that the costs are not passed on to workers and the local communities involved".

The CGIL is preparing for an assembly to update its program. "In a few weeks we will give life to an important programmatic assembly to update the fundamental program and indicate our proposals for the future of democracy, work and the country", said Landini.