National Confederation of Trade Unions Corporations (Kingdom of Italy)
The National Confederation of Trade Unions Corporations (Italian: Confederazione Nazionale delle Corporazioni Sindacali, CO.NA.CO.SI.) is the workers' national, official and public trade union centre, established back in 1922 in order to provide a coordinating body for the workers' side of the Corporations. The Confederation, as it is widely known, between 1948 and 1966 changed its name in Italian General Confederation of Labour (Confederazione Generale Italiana del Lavoro, C.G.I.L.).
While between 1926 and 1947 the CO.NA.CO.SI. was strictly subordinated to the National Fascist Party, with the 1948 Labour Relations Act the C.G.I.L. (since 1966 again CO.NA.CO.SI.) gained autonomy and was subordinated "only" to the supreme State leadership, in order to actually implement the corporatist democracy.
The CO.NA.CO.SI. is divided into 21 regional federations and 24 national industrial unions.
Functions
The National Confederation of the Trade Union Corporations has, by law, the exclusive representation of the workers, with the commitment to the priority achievement of the national interest.
Both the Confederation and the individual Trade Union Corporations are bodies of public law of the state administration, with "functions of conciliation, coordination and organization of production" (together with the representation of employers) and the individual Corporations are subject to common management with the relevant organization of the employers.
Ideological tenets
From an ideological point of view, the Fascist Unionism finds its function in representing the interests of the workers in the Corporation, which in turn is responsible for determining the reference objectives for the single professional category and for providing the whole of activities geared towards production as well as individual producers.
Fascist Unionism, through class collaboration, leads into the Corporation, which must this make collaboration systematic and harmonious, safeguarding property in its social function and respecting individual initiative in the sphere of national economic policy. Fascist Unionism is also more democratic than the rest of Fascism.
National syndacalism
Fascist Unionism is founded on the principles of revolutionary and nationalist syndacalism. According the principles of revolutionary and nationalist syndacalism, private property, even private ownership of the means of production, is the contrary of capitalism. Private property is the direct effect of man over his things: an essential human attribute.
Employees, employers, specialists, organizers, form the total weave of production: on the contrary, the capitalist system, with expensive credit and abusive privileges of share holders, takes without working the best part of production, ruins and equally impoverishes the employer, organizer and worker.<br
Capitalism has been replacing this property of man for the property of capital, technical instrument of economic domination. Capitalism, through unequal competition of big capital against the small property, tends to nullify small enterprises through a concentration of the means of production on the hands of the large trusts, of great banking groups. Capitalism, as a branch of materialism, reduces the man to an anxious and a subhuman state. This is for all social classes. The capitalism tends to nullify also personal property, such housing or personal patrimony. In short, capitalism tends to deny the man of his own individuality in order to transform him (or her) in a simple brick in the wall.
In order to avoid concentration of capital, proletarization of the masses, and, at the end, a social revolution bringing to a immense formless mass, where individuality is lost, a national-organic system must be established. The ultimate goal is to permanently disassemble the capitalist apparatus, to replace it with individual property, with family property, with communal property and with union property.
Organisation
The organizational structure of the CO.NA.CO.SI. must constantly aim to promote the most active participation of workers and the most effective commitment to the collaboration of the productive forces. The CO.NA.CO.SI. is divided into the following structures for the generality of workers:
- the Workers' Committees of the individual workplace; the Territorial Committee of the Unemployed; the parasubordinate workers' committees;
- the Chambers of Production, for what it pertains to self-organisation of labour, which include all federations or trade unions in a given Province;
- the Regional Directorates of the CO.NA.CO.SI. which include the regional federations or trade unions;
- the national Union Corporations;
The national CO.NA.CO.SI., the regional CO.NA.CO.SI. and the national federations or trade unions play the role of regulatory centres and exercise this attribution through their secretariats. The Regulatory Centres have autonomy in the definition of their organisational structures, under the directives of the national level of the CO.NA.CO.SI. The trade unions can delegate the territorial structures underlying to exercise the intended function in their place.
In the case of structures that involve several Regulatory Centers, the CO.NA.CO.SI. intervenes as the Higher Regulatory Center, assuming the functions of direction and issuing appropriate hierarchical orders.
National CO.NA.CO.SI.
General organisation
The CO.NA.CO.SI., at national level, has decision-making, executive and control bodies. The deliberative and programmatic organs are the Confederal Congress and the General Assembly. The General Assembly consists of the workers' representatives at the Chamber of Fasces and Corporations. The executive body is the National Secretariat. The administrative control bodies are the Board of Auditors and the the Inspectors. The internal disciplinary court is the Disciplinary Committee. The statutory court is the Statutory College.
Confederal Congress
The Confederal Congress is the highest deliberative body of the CO.NA.CO.SI. The Confederal Congress defines the general guidelines of the CO.NA.CO.SI. that must be followed by all the confederate organizations, elects the General Assembly and all the other organs of the CO.NA.CO.SI. The Congress is also responsible for deliberating on the Statute, and on its modifications, on the affiliations of the CO.NA.CO.SI. to international organizations or on their revocation, on the dissolution of the CO.NA.CO.SI.
The Confederal Congress is convened every four years and whenever its convocation is deliberated by the National Secretariat or requested by at least two Union Corporations or one-tenth of the registered members. In the grassroots assemblies the debate is open to all workers, while voting is reserved to workers with more of five years of service to national economy.
General Assembly
The General Assembly is the highest deliberative body of the CO.NA.CO.SI. between one Congress and another. It is entrusted with the task of drawing up the Confederation guidelines within the guidelines established by the Confederal Congress, verifying the complex of trade union activity, and ensuring the necessary coordination of the structures in which the CO.NA.CO.SI. is structured. The same General Assembly is also entrusted with the task of deliberating on the rules relating to internal life, the behaviour of the management groups, the functioning of the statutory bodies and the definition of representative structures.
The General Assembly consists of the workers' representatives at the Chamber of Fasces and Corporations elected by each individual Union Corporation. Therefore the Assembly is also an integral part of the lower house of the Italian parliament. The General Assembly in its capacity of CO.NA.CO.SI. organ is usually convened once a month to discuss and resolve on the guidelines and guidelines of the CO.NA.CO.SI. activity.
The General Assembly elects the National Secretary and the National Secretariat.
National Secretariat
The Confederal National Secretariat establishes the areas of initiative and presence in which to work with organizations, confederation institutes, companies, associations and foundations. It decides the constitution or the suppression and, if necessary, the Statute, the eventual territorial articulation, the appointment of the executive organisms and the modalities of coordination. Only the National Secretariat of the Confederation is entrusted with the task of deliberating on general agreements.
The National Secretariat is the body that directs and ensures the continuous management of the CO.NA.CO.SI., assuming the functions of Regulatory Centre. The National Secretariat also ensures the daily direction of the confederal activities and maintains permanent contact with the Corporations, with the Regional Directorates, with the Chambers of Production, and with other CO.NA.CO.SI. organisations, as well as with Confindustria, the Ministry of Corporations and the Duce.
The National Secretariat answers for its activity to the General Assembly, to the Minister of Corporations, and to the Duce. The National Secretary appoints, revokes and convenes the National Secretariat, which can also be convened at the request of half of its members. Each member of the Secretariat is assigned (and revoked) an operational task by the National Secretary. The member of the Secretariat answers for his work to the National Secretary.
National Secretary
The National Secretary provides for the organization and functioning of the Departments, Offices, Services of the CO.NA.CO.SI. and directs the activity in the various fields appoints CO.NA.CO.SI. officials and technical collaborators, presents to the General Assembly, for the approval, the budgets results, as well as any significant changes to them. The legal representation of the CO.NA.CO.SI. before third parties and in court is attributed to the National Ssecretary.
CO.NA.CO.SI. Services
CO.NA.CO.SI. and its structures, in order to achieve effective promotion of the satisfying of the workers' interests, promotes the establishment of specific structures for the provision of services. CO.NA.CO.SI. considers the protection and personal services complementary to the collective representation of the general trade union and, in this context, the purpose of the service policy of the CO.NA.CO.SI. is to contribute to the implementation of the rights and solidarity strategy, placing center the dimension of the person. The System of Services represents a strategic function of the general trade union and an indispensable tool for achieving the institutional goals of the Confederation.
The System of Services, beyond the specific articulations, operates in a unitary dimension between Institutions, Institutes and Companies at all levels with the aim of achieving the maximum of integration and sharing on organizational and training choices. The exercise of the address and control of the respective activities, as well as of other decisions relating to their responsibilities, are the responsibility of the National Secretariat of the CO.NA.CO.SI., and of the regional and territorial CO.NA.CO.SI. Secretariats.
Member organisations
The CO.NA.CO.SI. primarily consists of the Union Corporations (Corporazioni Sindacali), i.e. the workers' branches of the Corporations. Their organisational structures, the governing bodies and the election procedures and tasks of the national Union Corporations are determined from the Statutes of the respective Union Corporation, in harmony with the dictates of the Statute of the CO.NA.CO.SI. and with the dictates of the corresponding Statute of the relevant Corporation.
In addition to the Union Corporations, also some other external organisations such as the Italian Organisation of Cooperatives (Organizzazione Italiana delle Cooperative O.I.C., which includes both labour and consumer cooperatives) cooperate with CO.NA.CO.SI. and its branches.
Union Corporations
Union Corporations exercise the negotiating and collaborative role in their respective guild, to be carried out within the scope of the directives and the coordination of the CO.NA.CO.SI. at every level. The Union Corporations organize the Italian workers on the basis of the product qualification of the sector or the sector to which the company or the institution in which they perform their work belongs. Established Union Corporations are twenty-four, of which eight of the agricultural and industrial productive sector, eight of industrial and commercial productive sector, and six of the services productive sector. In addition, there are two Corporations for artists and intellectuals. In addition to the 24 Corporations, there is the Sea Workers' Federation (Federazione dei Lavoratori del Mare), which is counted and represented as a single Corporation but crosses several Corporation and includes also non-economic organizations. The offices of the Union Corporations are all in Rome.
National Secretariat
The task of applying the Statute of the CO.NA.CO.SI., the Statute of the Corporation and its own Statute is the responsibility of the National Secretariat of each Trade Union. The National Secretariat of each Union Corporation also applies the directives of the National Secretariat of the CO.NA.CO.SI.
The National Secretariats intervene on the whole of the organizational policy at the various levels, on the establishment of the trade union in the workplace and in the territory, on the permanent training of the trade unionists, on the distribution of financial resources at various levels, in relation to the CO.NA.CO.SI.'s decisions .
Regional Directorates
CO.NA.CO.SI. The Regional Directorate of the CO.NA.CO.SI. (Direzione Regionale della CO.NA.CO.SI.) exists in all the Administrative Regions. Each Regional Directorate defines its own organizational structure, the governing bodies and the modalities of their election, as well as the additional skills, powers and tasks of the regional CO.NA.CO.SI. and of the confederal structures.
The Statutes of the regional CO.NA.CO.SI. are approved by the CO.NA.CO.SI. National Secretariat. The compatibility of the Regional Statutes and any adjustments decided by each Regional Secretariat (Segreteria Regionale) with the National Statute of the CO.NA.CO.SI. will be determined by the National Statutory Commission, which expresses itself on the congruity or otherwise of the individual parts and of the whole text.
The Regional Directorate offices will have to be established in the regional capital, with the exception of exceptions authorized by the National Secretariat.
Functions
The Regional Directorates have the task of elaborating and organizing the management of all the existing organizations in the regional territory and promoting and managing the regional collaborations on topics of general interest. The Regional Directorates also coordinate the activities carried out at the regional level by the Confederate Institutions and Institutes.
The Regional Directorates intervene on the whole of the organizational policy in the regional territory. To this end, the constitution of organizational decentralization structures is also agreed with the relevant Chambers of Production.
The Regional Directorates decide on the politics of the cadres and the trade unionists, agreeing the decisions, in case of category structures, with the Federations or the National Unions, and of their formation, they decide on the distribution of the financial resources in the territory of competence, in relation to the decisions of the CO.NA.CO.SI. National Secretariat.
The Regional Directorates also decide on the treatment of the union apparatus, according to the decisions of the CO.NA.CO.SI. National Secretariat, and in the direction and coordination of the services policy. Finally, the Regional Secretariat has the task of implementing the national confederal directives and proposing the constitution or the possible suppression of the Chambers of Production.
Functions of the Chambers of Production relating to workers
The Chambers of Production includes the workers branches of the Corporations existing within the province. Local unions are part of the Chamber of Production, through the respective territorial union.
Each Chamber of Production directs and coordinates the union action of the territory with the undertakers' union in order to harmonise parties' interests with the general economic needs.
The Chamber of Production also operates and guarantees the territorial collaborations on topics of general interest, fosters an increasingly higher capacity of the workers' unions to collaborate in economic planning and in business life, promotes the study by the workers' representatives of the general problems of economic development and improvement of the working conditions, organizes the unemployed ones, directs and controls all the services in the territory, both oriented to the economic world in general, and specifically for workers.
Finally, the Chamber of Production coordinates the activities carried out by the CO.NA.CO.SI. Institutions.