Ilaria Marchese
Ilaria Marchese | |
|---|---|
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| Born | 1 September 1920 Valona, Alscia |
| Died | 9 May 2011 (aged 90) |
| Occupation | Trade unionist |
| Known for | Secretary-General of the General Council of Workers' Unions and Associations (1960–1977) |
Ilaria Marchese (Gylic transcription: Ilaria Markese; 1 September 1920 – 9 May 2011) was a Gylian trade unionist who served as the Secretary-General of the General Council of Workers' Unions and Associations from 1960 to 1977.
Under her leadership, the GCWUA became a powerful participant in the Golden Revolution, and a partner in the pact of the dinner party. She was the preeminent leader of the GCWUA's moderate faction, and sometimes jokingly compared herself to "a social democrat chairing an anarchist union". Her influence led to a professionalisation of the GCWUA, and a largely docile labour movement, pacified by the successful construction of a market socialist economy.
Ilaria was forced out as Secretary-General in 1977, as the GCWUA took a militant turn during the wretched decade. She had a long retirement until her death in 2011. She remains one of Gylias' outstanding and influential trade unionists, and her moderate course was followed by the longest-serving Secretary-General, Patsy Reilly.
Early life
Ilaria Marchese was born on 1 September 1920 in Valona. Her father was Nicola Marchese, a trade unionist who served as the president of the UAL, Alscia's national trade union centre.
She attended primary and secondary school in Valona, and was on the verge of beginning her university studies when Alscia voted to join the Free Territories.
Ilaria had accompanied her father on his official duties starting in adolescence. She spent most of the Liberation War working as a secretary or assistant in various capacities to trade unions, although she was never a union organiser. This led to the common jibe among her opponents that she was a "bureaucrat" with no hands-on experience of organising workplaces.
Ilaria's own philosophy of unionism was shaped by the influence of her father. He was a liberal and a strong advocate of union self-restraint, who worked closely with Valentina Potenza to suppress radical influence within the UAL. Ilaria's vision was largely practical: she saw unions as mainly an instrument to empower and enrich workers, and advocated cooperation between labour, management, and government, backed by force if necessary.
By the end of the war, Ilaria had become an "insider's insider" within the General Council of Workers' Unions and Associations. She had extensive knowledge of both its internal workings and the relative influence and positions of member unions.
General Council of Workers' Unions and Associations
Election
The National Obligation period initially saw the radicals have the upper hand within the GCWUA, and a rush to implement the Free Territories' economic models throughout Gylias. However, this led to some local excesses caused by overzealous unions and union leaders.
In the 1960 internal election, Ilaria stood as a candidate representing the moderate faction, against the radical Secretary-General Rairea Ţautal. She enjoyed several advantages: the mistrust towards the radicals, the moderate faction uniting entirely behind her, and her father's prestige. She presented herself as an impartial and neutral figure; radical opponents like Rairea charged that she would turn the GCWUA into a "toothless" copy of the UAL.
She defeated Rairea in the election, becoming Secretary-General. She won additional internal elections in 1965, 1970, and 1975.
Leadership
Ilaria presided over a professionalisation of the GCWUA and improvements in its administration, which earned her the respect of Gylian workers. Her reforms included the expansion of union-run schools for workers' education, libraries, sporting and cultural activities in cooperation with the Gylian Sports Confederation, National Recreation Organisation, and Committees for the Advance of the Revolution, the purchasing of a major stake in The Social Times, and the establishment of the National Workers' Bank, which became Gylias' largest bank.
She also established strict anti-corruption and fiscal transparency procedures, to protect unions from financial misconduct. The threat of expulsion from the GCWUA served as a powerful deterrent against malfeasance.
The establishment of the National Mediation Board and Directorate of Workplace Democracy also represented significant victories for the GCWUA. They became its major partners among Gylian administrative agencies — the NMB handling any industrial disputes as they emerged, and the DWD protecting workers' self-management.
Political goals
Ilaria advocated political neutrality for the GCWUA, rather than tying itself too closely to a particular ideology. She acknowledged the differences between herself and the union membership, joking that she was "a social democrat chairing an anarchist union".
She championed industrial democracy and sought to maintain labour solidarity at all costs. Esua Nadel observed that the latter goal sometimes required Ilaria to "annoy everyone equally": restraining the more radical unionists while cajoling and arm-twisting the moderate unionists.
Ilaria enjoyed the support of Sweetie Letise, the Darnan Cyras government's political fixer and minister without portfolio. Sweetie used her influence to help Ilaria consolidate her leadership and strengthen the moderates within the GCWUA.
Remaking Gylian labour
Ilaria took office at a very favourable juncture for the GCWUA. The transformation of the economy begun during the National Obligation period reached fruition, and Gylias experienced an economic boom. The Law on Industrial Organisation of 1958 was extremely labour-friendly, while the socialisation of the private sector through cooperatives put workers in control of the economy. With unionisation being automatic on beginning employment, the union density reached 100%, and recruitment of membership ceased to be an active concern.
Her non-confrontational approach as Secretary-General was successful because it fit the new realities of the economy. Gylias had little heavy industry, and its economy was dominated by light industry and services. Most Gylian workers were thus white-collar workers and pink-collar workers, or self-employed as merchants, independent professionals, and small business owners. With workers' self-management as the foundation of the economy, labour militancy had little appeal, and unions' attention was focused on providing services and defending the economic interests of their workers.
As a result of these factors, the Gylian labour movement was largely docile. During the 1960s and 1970s, Gylias had the least amount of time lost to strike actions in Siduri, while Gylian practices and the work of the Institute for the Protection of Leisure also gave it the lowest average working hours in Siduri. Rairea's charge that Ilaria turned the GCWUA into a copy of the UAL thus had some truth to it, but whereas Alscia experienced no strikes due to the extensive manipulation and clientelism practiced by Valentina Potenza, Gylias experienced no strikes due to its success in placing workers directly in charge of running their workplaces.
Public image
Ilaria strove to present herself as sober and moderate, to practice the self-restraint she advocated as Secretary-General. She was known for dressing in skirt suits with large lavallières, which garnered her a reputation as a style icon, much to her surprise.
She was soft-spoken, and her strongly Italian-accented English was highlighted in parodies and caricatures of her. Carla Miló observed gleefully that Ilaria spoke fluent French with no trace of an accent, but when she spoke English it was with a thick Italian accent.
During public appearances, her typical pose was to rest her hands directly in front of her body. She was perceived by the media as stiff, composed, and buttoned-down; she embraced the image because it perfectly suited her approach.
She was not a powerful speaker, but she was an outstanding strategist and organiser, who managed to keep the GCWUA united and strong. She was widely respected within the GCWUA for her understated image and extensive work behind the scenes. Even her radical opponents acknowledged her skill for organisation and her success in maintaing union power and improving workers' conditions through Gylian practices. Esua Nadel wrote:
"However much people disagreed with her methods, nobody in the GCWUA ever had a bad word to say about Ilaria as a person. Indeed, they praised her effusively for her hard work, elegance, and above all her tact. Ilaria never spoke ill of anyone, kept a firm lid on private disagreements, and very carefully hid her own beliefs for the purpose of fair dealing. Even the way the young radicals made fun of her was tinged with respect, the way one might poke fun at a school headmaster."
She regularly appeared in the media, giving interviews and commenting on news stories. Her constant appearances led the public to see her as the amiable representative of Gylian organised labour, and organised labour as the most important element of the economy.
Despite her career requiring "a perpetual performance of soft-spoken earnestness", in private Ilaria was a jovial hostess with a gentle sense of humour. She appreciated jokes at her expense because she saw them as a sign that people liked her. Her husband recalled: "She politely pretended not to hear the jokes about her. As long as you were polite to her face, she didn't mind you making fun of her behind her back. And she had such a sweet and gentle personality that nobody had the heart to be rude to her in person."
Virginia Inman wrote that "Ilaria positioned the GCWUA into a very effective ballroom dance during collective bargaining. She presented the GCWUA as a gentle giant, physically powerful yet greatly attentive to others. This led governments to reflexively approve any request made by the GCWUA, because Ilaria had already restrained and tempered them to remove anything the least bit unpalatable."
Later life
Ilaria's restrained approach, which made the Gylian labour movement "remarkably quiet and well-behaved" during the prosperity of the Golden Revolution, faltered in the face of the wretched decade. Her first meeting with Aén Ďanez left her shaken; she described Aén to the GCWUA convention as a "mad bomb-thrower".
With keeping the powder dry no longer an option, Ilaria found it hard to adjust to the new reality of the wretched decade, and the moderates within the GCWUA lost popularity. Several radical unions presented a motion of no confidence at the 1977 convention, which succeeded. Ilaria was thus removed as Secretary-General, and succeeded by the radical-supported Keie Seura.
Ilaria accepted her defeat gracefully, and offered her services to Keie, who retained her on the GCWUA's organising committee. She saw the GCWUA's militant turn as a deviation forced by the crises of the wretched decade, and hoped that her brand of self-restraint would reassert itself once the crises had been resolved.
This came to pass following the inauguration of the Filomena Pinheiro government. Mirroring Ilaria's rise to leadership, Keie and the radicals lost popularity after ill-advised conflicts with the government, and Keie lost a motion of no confidence at the 1988 convention, replaced by the moderate Patsy Reilly. Ilaria supported Patsy and campaigned for her during the supplementary election.
She retired from the GCWUA in 1988, and lived in quiet retirement with her family. She maintained her union membership card for the rest of her life. Apart from occasionally meeting with Patsy to provide advice, she kept a low profile, devoting herself to her family and hobbies.
She refused offers from President Gianna Calderara and Laura Varnaþ to be appointed to the Senate.
Death
Ilaria died on 9 May 2011 in her Mişeyáke apartment, aged 90.
Private life
Ilaria married in 1945. Her husband was a People's Army volunteer who worked as an accountant after the war. The marriage was happy and lasted until her death, with two children.
Ilaria led a simple, austere lifestyle. She neither smoked or drank alcohol. She was scrupulous about keeping her expenses low, choosing the cheapest accommodation and transportation for her duties as Secretary-General. Her only indulgence was clothing and jewelry, which she spent more on to maintain her appearance standards.
One of her children recalled: "She was a warm and loving mother. She was just as poised and stuffy at home, but that's just the way she was, and she was happy with it. She was firm but fair, like a Shelley family parent. She had a talent as a mother to make us never want to let her down, so misbehaving was simply unthinkable to us."
Her hobbies included hiking, fishing, tennis, and cycling. Her favourite music was Susan Shelley's art music, and one of her prized possessions was Susan's autograph.
Legacy
Ilaria is considered by historians to be one of the most influential Gylian trade unionists. She successfully made the GCWUA a powerful participant in the Golden Revolution and day-to-day Gylian life, professionalised the organisation, and consolidated worker control over the economy.
One biographer writes that Ilaria "made Gylian unions squeaky clean and powerfully efficient institutions, oversaw workers assuming responsibility for self-management, and reaped the fruits of the georgette-ification of Gylias' workforce".
The "quiet and well-behaved" labour movement that Ilaria fostered, viewed with disdain by radicals, became a prominent symbol of the pact of the dinner party. The Gylian Herald wrote in its obituary that Ilaria inadvertently did a great deal to popularise aristerokratia, as the image she promoted of a professionalised, sharp-dressed workforce far removed from dirty, dangerous and demeaning manual labour was a powerful symbol of the "good life" delivered by the Golden Revolution, and an enduring aspiration for subsequent generations of Gylians.
Lea Kersed praised Ilaria as "a serious woman and a patriot who managed to reconcile the interests of workers with the interests of the nation". She said that Ilaria's greatest achievement was having the GCWUA "accept responsibility" at a critical juncture in Gylian history and transforming unions to fit the new society and economy built by the Golden Revolution.