On Saturday 14 November the biggest Italian trade union federation, CGIL, held a national demonstration in Rome. While I guess that's a good thing, the slogan, 'Labour and the crisis: we demand answers', was vaguer than vague. What answers? Surely they might have some to suggest? But apparently not.
The turn-out, announced from the platform at the start of the speeches, was 70,000 - three trains and over 700 coaches from across the country. By British trade union standards, that would be pretty respectable, but in Italian terms it's not particularly impressive. But when your demo's essentially pitched as a general show-of-strength day out in Rome, with no strategy attached, that's not really surprising.

This campaigner wanted Berlusconi to think about people's pay-packets, not just his own troubles with magistrates. Fair enough point, but note the home-made banner: even that sort of minimal message didn't make it onto the official ones.

This local section highlighted an anti-mafia campaign.

Rifondazione Comunista and its former left current Sinistra Critica, now going it alone, had stalls at the main rally. Both made some reasonable demands in response to the crisis in terms of stopping sackings, defending contract workers and improving welfare benefits; Sinistra Critica differentiated itself by calling for a general strike.






