On 19-21 April 2010, the Italian Federation of Commerce, Tourism and Services Workers (FILCAMS│CGIL) held its 13^th National Congress in Riccione, Italy. Participants analyzed the current situation and looked at the challenges faced by the sector. FILCAMS, an IUF affiliate, is the second largest organization of the General Italian Workers’ Confederation (CGIL) in terms of membership. SIREL spoke with Gabriele Guglielmi, national council member and international policies coordinator of the Federation, who gave an overview of the congress.

-What issues were discussed at the congress?

-The 13^th Congress of FILCAMS was held in the framework of the preparations for the 16^th Congress of CGIL, with the aim of discussing specific issues of a sector characterized by a strong presence of women, seasonal work, widespread subcontracting and labor flexibilization.

In this sense, the main goal was to identify solutions to guarantee greater job stability, ongoing training and a decent salary during down periods.

Lastly, we examined possible processes to address the economic crisis, and elected the new National Governing Council, formed by 187 delegates, a hundred of which are women.

-How has the crisis affected the services sector?

-After the industrial sector, ours is the second worst hit by the economic crisis, and we’re working on different fronts to deal with this situation. The reactivation of the economy is advancing very slowly and so far we’ve been able to protect workers through instruments that are available in Italy for guaranteeing salaries in times of crisis.

But for those workers who don’t have permanent work contracts, the situation has become critical.

-How is the situation of workers hired under outsourcing schemes or affected by flexibilization?

-On May 1^st, we held a joint Labor Day celebration with the other trade union confederations in the city of Rosarno. That city has become a symbol of the struggle of migrant workers, especially those from Africa, against criminal organizations, which promote caporalato (subcontracting) practices.

In the last few years there has been an alarming increase in precarious employment, which very often amounts to slavery, and it is for that reason that our trade union confederations are focusing on this very serious problems.

Last year, for example, FILCAMS participated in the “Red Gold” initiative, launched by another  IUF affiliate, the Federation of Agroindustry Workers (FLAI│CGIL), to combat slavery conditions in tomato harvests in the southern Italian region of Puglia,.

-Several IUF representatives were present at the congress. How important is the IUF for FILCAMS?

-There was a significant presence of the IUF at our congress: the general secretary, Ron Oswald; the president of the International Hotel Committee, Norberto Latorre; and the regional secretary for Latin America, Gerardo Iglesias were there.

FILCAMS is an affiliate of the IUF and UNI Global, and we also have bilateral relations with European, Latin American and African labor organizations.

For us these relations and contacts are very important for addressing the challenge of developing a global strategy to face transnational corporations together. With the United Workers’ Federation of Brazil (CUT), for example, we’re conducting a project for researching and exchanging information on good and bad employment practices in Italy and Brazil. In this same line of action, FILCAMS will investigate the conduct of several companies, such as Carrefour, to find out what working conditions and salaries they’re providing and if workers are allowed to exercise their labor rights freely.

The goal is to secure 50 global agreements with transnational companies in the sectors in which we operate.