1. Glasgow 2003 ILGA Conference 1 Trade Unions and European LGBTI Issues Maria Gigliola Toniollo CGIL Nazionale – Settore Nuovi Diritti

2. Glasgow 2003 ILGA Conference 2CGIL The Italian General Confederation of Labour is the oldest Italian trade union and is also the largest and most representative one with over 5.5 million members including workers, young people entering the world of work and retired people. It is affiliated to the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) and the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU). Each year 10 million people and more benefit from adequate assistance by the CGIL.

3. Glasgow 2003 ILGA Conference 3 The New Rights Section It set up, about 12 years ago, a national office for dealing specifically with the issue of discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. During the last CGIL National Congress it has become a section, a clear signal that, after years of struggles, the trade union gives to issues concerning discrimination because of sexual orientation and gender identity the same importance that it has traditionally given to other areas, making it possible the establishment of local offices throughout Italy.

4. Glasgow 2003 ILGA Conference 4 How we work During these years it has been natural and necessary to face important national and international themes such as the struggle against censorship and every kind of limitation for Internet and the web or the new disquieting controversies issuing from genetics and discoveries brought about by the scientific progress. Now we are working on a Project for a Monitoring Centre on the Secularism in Italian society.

5. Glasgow 2003 ILGA Conference 5 New Rights Section and the NGO’s New rights offices are an important example of "good practice" inside the trade union and are the result of the collaboration between the CGIL and the associations. For that reason we proposed to the representatives of the national associations in Italy to sign a Memorandum of Agreement with our Organisation.

6. Glasgow 2003 ILGA Conference 6 ETUC Congress and Workers out! World Conference CGIL supports LGBTI issues in ETUC and ICFTU official policies and still remains the only Italian example, at the trade union level (and one of the first at political level), of the active, explicit and formal protection of gay, lesbian and transsexual workers. We succeeded to: obtain that “gender identity” was officially mentioned in the Action Program of the ETUC in the last Congress add a paragraph on transgender and intersex issues in the final resolution of “Workers out”, the 2nd World Conference of Lesbian and Gay Trade Unions in Sidney.

7. Glasgow 2003 ILGA Conference 7 After Lisbon ILGA Conference 2002 During this year, the main activities of the CGIL New Rights Section have been: The implementation of the Directive 2000/78/EC The implementation of the principle of equal treatment on the grounds of gender identity The recognition of same sex and de facto couples

8. Glasgow 2003 ILGA Conference 8 What I couldn’t do The ambition from which the “new rights office” was created is a harsh declared war against the cultural, human and therefore also contractual, legislative and juridical inadequacy which appears to rule society concerning the full exercise of the right of the individual. My efforts to bring together an international group of trade unionists with common interests have so far being unsuccessful, this is disappointing. We have worked to bring inside the trade unions the LGBTI issues, why can’t we form an international group of unionists to work together?