EUROPEAN REVIEW

ISSUE 38 - Page 4

The three main trade union confederations, CGIL, CISL, and UIL, have responded to the new situation with various measures. Advice on issues linked to taxation or pensions, consumer help services, and legal aid in the event of a dispute in the workplace are available to anyone but union members enjoy special rates. Migrant centres help incomers with work permits, family links and information on social security. The unions think that asking about these benefits are often the first contact for recruits who have not traditionally joined up. Workers on the new ‘precarious’ contracts are catered for by all three confederations who have each set up special organisations to to advice them on taxation and social security. The aim of the unions is to convert these ‘non-typical’ contracts into normal ones.		Although the upswing in the economy has kept unionisation in Italy at about 35% of the labour force, above average in the EU, the Italian labour market still shows many weaknesses such as the figure of 60% of the working age population who are actually in work, near the bottom of the EU league. Youth and female unemployment and lack of work in the south of the country also give cause for concern. Some southern regions have youth unemployment rates of over 50% while the gap between female and male employment rates of about 30% is almost the biggest among the now 27 Member States. Although Italian unions would expand membership if these problems were dealt with, they have shown themselves willing to adapt to existing conditions and their extensive network of thousands of bases outside  workplaces has enabled them to maintain their strength in the face of changes in work organisation.
	High-tech manufacturing leads the way in creating jobs in Italy

Bulgarian migrants to be helped by Spanish unions
NEW ENTRANTS BULGARIA AND ROMANIA, who joined at the beginning of the year, have, in principle, been granted the fundamental EU right of freedom of movement for workers. However, although 2006 was the ‘year of workers’ mobility’, only Finland and Sweden, of the pre-2004 Member States, have actually allowed unfettered access to their labour markets. Nonetheless it is still possible for Bulgarians and Romanians to work legally in the ‘old’ EU, for instance if they are self-employed or students supplementing their income. Recognising this, Spanish and Bulgarian trade unions have come up with a ground-breaking plan to improve the lot of workers moving from east to west. The Spanish confederation UGT has got together with their Bulgarian counterparts CITUB to open an information centre in the capital, Sofia. It will provide help to prospective migrants, including details of UGT centres in Spain, and advise them how to obtain legal employment. The Spanish union aims to defend the rights of migrant workers guaranteed by an agreement between the two governments which included equal wages and conditions with local workers. The agreement was based on the belief that legal migration of labour is good for both countries. At the moment about 45,000 Bulgarians work legally in Spain.


EU poster for the 2006 ‘year of workers’ mobility’