VIDEO | Military unions of the Air Force, Usami: “We need to improve the founding law”

Trevisiol: "Dialogue with commanders, visits to the barracks, noticeboards... here are the issues"

RIMINI – From registration to dialogue with commanders and visits to barracks: there are various changes requested by military unions to the law on their constitution, 46 of 2022. Usami, the trade union union of military associations Aeronautics is holding a conference this afternoon in Rimini, as part of the first national congress, dedicated to the law establishing trade unions, contract renewal and supplementary pensions. “In this phase – explains the general secretary Enzo Trevisiol – we are committed to the contract and this is our priority”. But at the same time “we have to think about the problems inside barracks and airports”. The amendment to the law on military unions, he goes into detail, is “equally important because the more effective the trade union instrument is, the greater the guarantee of professional protection for soldiers”.

Therefore, he underlines, “yes to contractual renewal, greater resources and more rights for the military”, but it is also necessary to define some “training gaps” for example on equal leaves and licenses. Furthermore, there is “the provision for the start of supplementary pension”. All of this, continues the trade unionist, without giving little importance to the changes to law 46 of 2022. In fact “a correct interpretation, application and definition of trade union rights allows for incisive force in the barracks”. As regards the limits of the legislation, he continues, on the one hand “the registration in the register is contested and there appears to be a judicial proceeding in progress”. For the Air Force, the impossibility of formalizing the dialogue with the department commanders is “very difficult. It is impossible to negotiate, manage, resolve and dialogue with the Administration if it is not possible to speak with the commanders.

There are also some “niceties”, adds Trevisiol, on typical union prerogatives such as the right to assembly and the five-day limitation for those who want to participate. Even if the real problem is that “the rooms are empty and there is no sensitivity towards this historic passage”, but “the lack of members, there are 5,000 out of 40,000 people, causes damage to the Armed Forces”. Furthermore there are “service problems, visits to the departments on the correct application of the contract and on safety denied because the application directives are missing”. Security, he comments, on which the RLS “have no operation”. Then there is, he concludes, the “almost ridiculous ban on posting requests on the notice board”, the absence of decentralized negotiation and the percentage of representation at 2%. The president of Usami, Luciano Lupidi, also points out that there is “a lack of knowledge in the departments, training courses for commanders are needed. For them it is a great opportunity”. Also to understand that “the union does not destroy but creates harmony”.