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Before the electoral silence, the CGIL Messina addresses the candidates for mayor of the city of Messina, highlighting some issues on employment, development prospects, services and social measures. Messina is at a crossroads: real socio-economic growth is expected, this is clearly stated by the CGIL Messina which notes that all the statistical surveys and reports have highlighted strong critical issues on a structural level which require a government of the city territory that gives concrete impetus and an improvement in living and working conditions. The union’s platform in view of the nearby local elections contains requests for work, local security, the development of the city, for the many fragilities, to encourage youth and women’s employment, to break down social inequalities by which the growth of a territory is also measured.
The CGIL Messina observes how the next mayor, the next city government, must dialogue more with all the social partners, opening a real discussion on the major issues and in particular those that concern work and development issues. “On this – declares the general secretary Pietro Patti – we will be ready to forcefully relaunch our request for a constructive discussion and we hope that a new phase can be opened. We ask for the involvement of the social partners in planning the city’s development, work is the first issue. Whoever leads Messina must defend it, create it and also make it more stable”. Among the many issues that the CGIL Messina places at the center of the city debate and above all of the platform of requests, active employment policies, social clauses in municipal contracts to guarantee decent wages and contracts, gender policies, the expansion of municipal nursery schools, services for children and for elderly and non-self-sufficient people, concrete measures to encourage women’s access to work.
The CGIL also requests, as the first administrative act, a Protocol, already proposed for all contract workers, for greater quality of work and safety conditions, also to avoid the use of pirated contracts. On safety at work, the CGIL Messina asks the next mayor to set up a permanent table with Inail, unions and companies for greater controls. Among the priorities that the union indicates as priorities are also the safety of the territory, connections and city roads, measures against hydrogeological instability, maintenance, prevention, with greater attention to the villages. For the CGIL Messina, many towns and suburbs still live too much on the margins. And in many city areas, lack of public services, lack of social and participation spaces, and the need for urban regeneration affect a condition of marginality. A condition that also concerns young people, with a discomfort also highlighted by the latest reports. “We have pointed out – says Patti – how the theme of the suburbs and marginalization in which a large part of the population of Messina lives must become central in administrative and political action. We must implement inclusion and integration policies to bring those who live in conditions of isolation out of social, economic and working marginality”.
The CGIL Messina highlights how, alongside the issue of employment, there is also the issue of full social inclusion to be addressed, to be implemented starting from the strengthening of public services and meeting social needs. On development issues, the CGIL Messina, addressing the candidates, reiterates that shipbuilding is central and fundamental. The union immediately calls for the convening, at the municipal headquarters, of a table between all interested parties to set up a relaunch and investment plan as well as a protocol for greater protection for workers in the sector. Messina is also tourism, for the CGIL Messina new policies are needed to encourage tourism in a city that has a strategic position and an underutilized historical, cultural and naturalistic heritage. To transform tourism from a potential resource to an economic engine, targeted policies are needed on three fronts: accessibility, deseasonalisation, quality of the offer. Strengthen connections and mobility; without efficient connections, tourism does not grow.
We need to work with the Region and the State to improve connections with the airports of Reggio Calabria and Catania, strengthen fast maritime transport in the Strait, and it is important to deseasonalize the offer. Messina can work on cultural, religious, food and wine and conference tourism. The most important cruise flow passes through Messina but the city benefits little from this. Furthermore, for the CGIL Messina, the Bridge issue is decisive with respect to a city that must be defended from a work that does not represent a development model, and with a devastating impact on the territory and the population. On this, the CGIL is ready to ask for very specific commitments from the future Administration. These are some of the issues of a platform that the CGIL Messina will bring to the table of the next city administration, ready to give its contribution as a trade union organization to the various work and social issues, to the growth of the city, for the interests of citizens, male and female workers.