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by Roberto Montoya 30 April 2020 A different first of May, which in times of pandemic crisis is strongly affecting the world of work. A ruthless, invisible enemy in recent months has brought mourning and pain, worries about losing your job, putting the livelihoods of thousands of families at risk.

According to the International Labor Organization (ILO) an estimated loss of nearly 25 million jobs worldwide is estimated. Furthermore, President Guy Ryder said that there is an urgent need to set global solidarity in motion. G20 ministers pledged to adopt "a person-centered approach that encourages employment, strengthens social protection, stabilizes industrial relations and promotes fundamental principles and rights at work". Otherwise, inequalities will widen, poverty will increase and social achievements will be lost with the danger of a more difficult recovery. It is a complex picture that emerges from the recovery phase that is about to begin.

Since the beginning of his pontificate, Pope Francis has dedicated many important chapters to reflection on the Social Doctrine of the Church, which question us about what is essential and superfluous for our lives: the common good, solidarity, care for creation, dignity of work. Even health has returned to being an asset to be promoted that unites everyone. The pandemic has highlighted the uncovered nerves and shortcomings of our health system. Salus means health, but also salvation, in the ethical-spiritual and above all religious sense; two interconnected meanings, a central moral problem in the pursuit of the common good.

Solidarity in this health crisis has become a treasure, a fixed point that we all need, which also reevaluates that principle of subsidiarity essential to restarting a broken system, in which the social partners are called today more than ever to work exclusively 'united' in the interest of citizens, without leaving anyone behind. A third sector that has shown its essential and essential character, against a globalist culture that often forgets the safeguarding of the work to which we dedicate a large part of our lives. Key words in "Laudato si '" to face new challenges, the need for an economy that focuses on the person, the dignity of the worker and the care of the environment, with a view to sustainable development. Building a different economy is not only possible, but it is the only way we have to save ourselves and to live up to our task in the world, with the hope always alive to open glimmers of light for a wounded humanity. 

Crises force - in Caritas in Veritate - "to redesign our path, to give us new rules, to find new forms of commitment, to focus on positive experiences and to reject negative ones". An opportunity for discernment to design the new.

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We met Gianna Fracassi, Deputy Secretary General of the CGIL.

How many workers have currently lost their jobs due to the pandemic in Italy?
We already have a picture with respect to the social security funds, the social safety nets, and it is not comparable with our recent history. The pandemic, the measures of social distancing, the lockdown have substantially resulted in the blocking of more than 50% of production, net of those so-called essential workers: health, agriculture, transport that have allowed continuity in work while still risking firsthand. We do not know the effects of the pandemic, because we are still in the emergency phase, but we fear that they will be very heavy. It is no coincidence that we asked the government to reiterate social safety nets, also extending them to seasonal workers in the agriculture, tourism, culture, entertainment and transport sectors, that is, to all those who unfortunately, due to this situation, will not be able to to work.

The problem of precariousness was however present in our country before the crisis. But do you have news of them?
We suffer in our country from high levels of underemployment and part time, so they were workers who were poor even before, even though they worked. Today these workers do not even have minimal answers. Here opens a great theme called impoverishment and poverty, of those who work and those who were already poor before. In the past two months there has been an exponential increase in the poor, and on this front it is necessary to respond to the basic needs of workers.

Dr. Fracassi, how are you organizing to guarantee workers more security, more social justice and more integration?
Regarding safety, we have always insisted, in the relationship with the government, that whatever choice he made, he had to have the safety and health of workers at the center. Here everyone's point of view must change! An idea of ​​solidarity in a broader sense must be put at the center. Answers must be given to workers on the security front; for us social justice means giving people back those minimum conditions to be able to access primary citizenship rights, such as health, education, decent work. The latter can make a fundamental contribution to society, especially today. Who is fighting the contagion? Health workers, logistics workers, shop assistants, agricultural workers and all those who allow this country to move forward ... and are often the least of the workers.

In your opinion, in the crisis we are experiencing what role do women play in work and in the family?
Just look around to understand what role women have played: they guarantee treatment in hospitals in this country, allow you to keep some important activities open, women are the first researchers to isolate the virus, and among other things they were precarious. Women continue to have great relevance, but unfortunately it happens that their work is not recognized: strong responses are missing on the side of life / work balance. At the end of this pandemic, the first to suffer will be women at work. We fear that they will only take care of the care of children, the elderly, in a context, then, where schools are closed. Conciliation is not only a female issue, but is parental. We need strong responses, comprehensive strategies for women, starting with an extraordinary employment plan.

In a season characterized by the digital revolution, Telework offers new opportunities for workers to continue working. In the long run is there a risk of losing workers' rights?
This condition changed things, but it also opened up possibilities. Now we must not confuse the 'tool' with the law. I remember that telework was already foreseen in all employment contracts. Now a different condition arises, which imposes regulation within a contract, such as the right to disconnect. It has often happened in this phase of crisis, for some types of work, that there has been a long phase without interruption. If we continue to have this condition for other months, contractual intervention will be required.     

Pope Francis recalled: "that without a job there is no dignity and that precariousness is an open wound for our society". Health care and the school sector have shown it to us. What do you think?
I think Pope Francis often has the ability to read people's condition clearly, and better than many others. Precariousness is a scourge in the world of work, especially in sectors such as education. I am a teacher and I know what it means to be precarious in school: no prospects and no response to young people. Precariousness affects twice: it affects workers and all citizens, because precariousness means fragmentation of services, less efficiency in public administration. So addressing the issue means doing a quality operation. We understood that flexibility meant not only fewer rights, but also fewer protections and fewer possibilities. The most obvious photograph of all this is a very high unemployment figure: many workers not only precarious, but who work only a few hours. 

The vocation of trade unions is to protect the excluded from work, who are also excluded from rights and democracy. Do you think this vocation is still alive in the unions?
The great sense of duty with respect to the function of representation makes us go beyond the idea of ​​simply having to give a bureaucratic answer. Trying to build together with people represents an idea of ​​change in society and in the world. If there is no such lever, there is no union. Our first general secretary, Giuseppe Di Vittorio, was a laborer. He said that "it is difficult to represent the interests of workers, but it is necessary to always fight for the dignity of who you represent". If you don't have this will to fight, you can't say you've done your duty. It is maintaining a thread of social cohesion and protecting everyone, even those who are invisible today, such as immigrant workers, who are exploited and to whom no response of regularization and civilization is given. 

We are ready to face a future yet to be invented or we are anchored to the paradigms of the past. How are we organizing for the restart?
One of the things that has always struck me about the Pope is the great attention paid to environmental and ecology issues. It is an attention that we share. Today talking about integral ecology means talking about the ecology of people and the territory: this is one of the central points of the restart. The revolution of points of view means that today you cannot think of going back exactly where you were on February 20. We are in a different condition, we have to change the economic paradigms, in order to really build a solidarity society founded on work; protect the environment and have social justice at the center. These are not only philosophical but also economic concepts. It means thinking about a development that brings together social and environmental issues, reviewing and converting productions from an ecological point of view, giving an answer to the young people and women of this country with an extraordinary work plan. This is the restart, don't go back to 'business as usual'.

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