This gallery contains 10 photos.
Originally posted on Enough is Enough!:
Cops violently evicted two social centers in Bologna, Italy yesterday. Activists announced that there would be a public meeting at the end of the month in preparation for a demonstration on September 9th to take…
The national coordinator of the Si Cobas trade union was released on bail yesterday after his lawyer stated that the accusations against him are beginning to collapse. Aldo Milani, the head of Si Cobas was arrested on Friday during negotiations he was conducting. According to Si Cobas: “In the late afternoon (of 26th January 2016) our national coordinator Aldo Milani was taken away by the police, arrested and transferred to jail in Modena and, as of yet (the morning of of January 27th), his legal defense has not been able to contact him.” Milani was charged with extortion relating to industrial action that the union was taking against a food processing company in the province of Modena, Northern Italy. Continue reading
Newspapers report every day how our world is changing because of digital technologies. We often read about full automation, digitalization of life and the end of work. All these themes are interwoven in the sharing economy: apps that connect supply and demand to share a particular good. Foodora is not one of them, as nothing is shared. Foodora is part of the gig-economy, like Uber, MechanicalTurk or Task Rabbit.
Foodora offers restaurants the possibility of new customers by providing a flexible fleet of couriers. An app monitors purchases and assigns them to the couriers based on an algorithm that calculates speed and distances. Restaurants get new orders without employing any more people, paying 30% only on completed deliveries, meaning they have no additional costs. Customers get the food they want from a great variety of restaurants, at home, by paying €2.90 per delivery. Young cyclists, who the company calls “riders” (even in Italian), get to earn some money by moving through the city in their free time. Foodora, the once-small Berlin-based startup has grown into an international business, located in 10 countries and 36 cities. It opened in Italy two years ago, starting in Turin and Milan (northern Italy) and will soon be expanding to Rome, with prospective sales volume growing at a rate of 75% every month.
Currently the riders, roughly 300 in Turin and 600 in Milan, are not directly employed by the company. Instead, they are employed using a contract structure known as “co.co.co” (“contract for continued collaboration on a project”). These contracts effectively result in the riders being regarded as autonomous workers collaborating with the company, which enables the company to bypass several labour regulations which apply to direct employees.
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Le 4 Décembre prochain, le peuple italien sera appelé aux urnes pour le référendum sur la reforme constitutionnelle proposée par le gouvernement conservateur et pro-austérité de Matteo Renzi. Le sujet domine la vie politique italienne en raison de l’impact que pourrait avoir cette reforme sur la vie politique et institutionnelle italienne si elle est approuvée, mais aussi en raison de l’agitation qu’elle pourrait provoquer dans la politique italienne si elle venait a être rejetée.
L’importance accordée au référendum a rapidement polarisé la vie socio-politique italienne, servant de paravent a chaque force socio-politique majeur afin de détourner l’attention publique sur ses tares. Le gouvernement et le Parti Démocrate font face a une opposition populaire grandissante en raison de l’énorme écart entre l’effet loué des politiques appliquées par les gouvernants et les difficultés d’une large frange de la population, difficultés engendrées par les politiques néolibérales dictée par l’Union Européenne. Le Mouvement 5 étoiles, malgré ses récentes victoires aux élections municipales a Rome et a Turin, est toujours aux prises avec son identité et sa structure et la médiocrité de ses élus locaux est bien visible. Forza Italia, le parti de Berlusconi, la Ligue du Nord et les autres partis de droite voient en ce référendum le moyen de déloger Renzi du pouvoir afin de se l’approprier et de continuer sur la même ligne politique néolibérale. Les différentes forces de Gauche voient en ce référendum l’occasion de revenir sur la scène politique nationale comme alternatives fiables et stables. La fédération des employeurs Confindustria est d’ores et déjà favorable au débat national car il représente une belle occasion de détourner l’attention publique sur les salaires décroissants, les droits du travail, la sécurité au travail, la précarité du travail et l’enrichissement des employeurs.
Credit: Associazione ControCorrente
On 21 October, over 1.3 million workers took part in a general strike called by a number of base trade unions (USB, S.I. Cobas, Unicobas, Adl Cobas, Cub Lazio) and joined by many organisations and local groups throughout Italy.
The strike was a political one, and it was called to protest against the Bossi-Fini migration law, EU policies and Matteo Renzi’s government’s most contested measures: the Labour reform known as Jobs Act, the Constitutional Reform, the ‘Good School’ reform of primary and secondary school, and the 2016 Budget Law.
The main aim was to block the centers of the biggest Italian cities and to disrupt the normal operations of the logistics sector, still in uproar after the shocking death of worker and trade unionist Abdelssalam Eldanf, killed the night between September 14 and 15 during a strike in Piacenza. In whichever square or street logistics workers have assembled, this has been the main subject.
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Le 11 Octobre dernier, le dernier squat d’un immeuble de Bologne situé rue Mario Di Maria dans le quartier ouvrier de Bolognina, comptant une centaine de personnes dont 34 enfants fut fermé par les forces de l’ordre.
En effet selon les habitants, dès l’aube, les policiers et gendarmes encerclèrent le bâtiment et attaquèrent les occupants a coups de matraque et de spray au poivre.
Virginia Gieri, fidèle de Renzi; membre nouvellement élu au conseil de l’urgence au logement , en remplacement de Amelia Frascaroli, jugée trop molle, déclara que les squatteurs sont sortis pacifiquement de l’immeuble tandis que les résidents et témoins de l’événement témoignent avoir vu un homme évanoui après avoir été battu par les forces de l’ordre et d’un autre blesse.
Le gouvernement Renzi mène une politique de répression féroce a l’égare des occupants illégaux de logements et les sections locales du PD ( Parti Démocrate au pouvoir) sont tenues d’appliquer la ligne de conduite dictée par le parti même dans des localités ou le PD se dit “tolérant” et plus “sociale” a l’image de Bologne.
On December 4th 2016 the Italian people will be called upon to vote in a referendum on the constitutional reform put forward by Matteo Renzi’s conservative and pro-austerity government. The topic is dominating Italian political life, because of the major impact the reform would have on the political and institutional life of the Italian Republic if approved, and because of the political turmoil that would follow if rejected.
The focus on the referendum has quickly polarized the Italian socio-political world, allowing every major socio-political force to divert attention from its own flaws. The Government and the Democratic Party are facing growing popular opposition, due to the enormous gap between the trumpeted effects of policies and the real-life struggles of a growing number of people living in Italy, struggles caused by neoliberal European Union driven government policies. The Five Star Movement, despite recent electoral victories in Rome and Turin, is still struggling with its identity and structure, and the mediocrity of its MPs and local politicians is showing. Berlusconi’s Forza Italia, the Northern League and the rest of the right-wing parties see the referendum as a way of dislodging Renzi from power, only to get it back and apply the very same neoliberal policies. The various left-wing parties see the opportunity as a way of coming back to the national stage as a reliable and stable political force. The employers’ federation Confindustria is also favouring this national debate, since it’s conveniently diverting attention from diminishing salaries, labour rights and safety and increasing precariety, and employers’ corresponding enrichment.
