MINUTES OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY MEETING
The General Assembly of the Friuli Venezia Giulia/Veneto/South-Western Croatia CGIL, CISL, UIL, SSSH Interregional Trade Union Council met on 10th December 2008 in Umag (HR) at the Sol Umag Hotel in Jadranska b.b.
Attending members: Monica Ukmar (CGIL Friuli Venezia Giulia, substitute of Roberto Treu who was unable attend), Giovanni Della Valle (CISL Veneto), Luca Visentini (UIL Friuli Venezia Giulia), Michele Berti (UIL Friuli Venezia Giulia), Jadranka Tomašić (SSSH South-Western Croatia), Slobodan Kapor (SSSH South-Western Croatia), Josip Šišović (SSSH South-Western Croatia), Mladen Milanović (SSSH South-Western Croatia), Ivica Perinić (SSSH South-Western Croatia), Vesna Bolić (SSSH South-Western Croatia), Gordana Paris (SSSH South-Western Croatia), Branko Kužet (SSSH South-Western Croatia).
Absent on leave: Roberto Treu (CGIL Friuli Venezia Giulia), Giobatta Degano (CGIL Friuli Venezia Giulia), Emilio Viafora (CGIL Veneto), Giovanni Fania (CISL Friuli Venezia Giulia), Gerardo Colamarco (UIL Veneto), Veljko Peloza (SSSH South-Western Croatia).
Attending guest: Elvio Di Lucente (CISL Friuli Venezia Giulia).
Agenda of the General Assembly meeting:
- Replacement of resigning members of IR.T.U.C. bodies;
- Approval of the 2007 budget;
- Planning of 2009 activities;
- Any other business.
Luca Visentini, acting as President of IR.T.U.C., opened and chaired the General Assembly meeting at 17.42.
1. Lorenzo Garziera (CISL Friuli Venezia-Giulia section) resigned from his organisation, therefore another member had to be appointed at IR.T.U.C. bodies. As member of the General Assembly, the following candidate was presented:
- Elvio Di Lucente (full member, new) for CISL Friuli Venezia-Giulia.
A vote was held on this candidate. The General Assembly voted unanimously in favour of this candidate.
Similarly, the same candidate was designated for the Presidency Office, namely:
- Elvio Di Lucente (new) for CISL Friuli Venezia-Giulia.
A vote was held on this candidate. The General Assembly unanimously adopted this proposal.
2. The three main items of expenditure of the 2007 budget were explained, the relevant breakdown was the following:
- “Administration” € 53.085,84,
- “International and cross-border activities” € 21.224,85 and
- “Equipment” € 5.447,36.
Implemented activities were briefly outlined together with the relevant costs in line with the actual expenditure. The total expenditure amounted to € 79.758,05.
As for the four items of revenue in the 2007 budget, the relevant breakdown was the following:
- “Financing from the Autonomous Region Friuli Venezia Giulia in compliance with article 5 of the Regional Act n. 11 of 1996 and subsequent amendments and integrations for the implementation of institutional activities” € 62.000,00,
- “Reimbursements from the European Commission” € 2.013,48,
- “Reimbursements from the European Trade Union Confederation” € 925,49 and
- “Contribution of IR.T.U.C. member Trade Unions organizations for the implementation of institutional activities” € 14.819,08.
This years, the total expenditure amounted to € 79.758,05, resulting in a balance between revenue and expenditure for 2007. As no one asked to take the floor or asked for explanations, the voting on 2007 budget was held. The General Assembly unanimously adopted the proposal.
3. The Presidency Office, in its meeting of 10th October 2008, decided to submit the following proposal for action for 2009 to the General Assembly:
- an activity on the collective bargaining in the agricultural and food sector (or, alternatively, in the tourism sector) in Italy and in Croatia;
- a survey on the present status of the EU membership negotiations with Croatia, considering that 2009 could be the year before the actual membership;
- a study on the contents of a bilateral agreement between Italy and Croatia on frontier work.
A short debate was held – also on the remarks made during the workshop held in the morning as part of an E.T.U.C. project “Collective Bargaining in Italy and in Croatia and trade union cooperation in the bordering areas” – and partial agreement was expressed for this proposal. In fact, as:
- in Croatia negotiations on the collective contract for the agricultural and food sectors were still in place and therefore the contract was not yet in force;
- suggested by the E.T.U.C Confederal Secretary, Walter Cerfeda, there’s a need for an insight into the harmonisation of legislation in the labour sector that Croatia is carrying out to comply with the acquis communautaire in view of its membership;
- regards trade union rights and labour rights, similar bargaining objectives should be achieved in companies having branches both in Italy and in Croatia,
the proposal for action in 2009 turned out to be partly different from the decision of the Presidency Office. The following activities were suggested:
- an assessment report, with a draft international agreement on frontier work between Italy and Croatia, to be presented to the Italian and Croatian governments, with the support of the respective trade union confederations;
- a workshop in cooperation with E.T.U.C. and with legal experts on the assessment of what has been done and what still needs to be done with a view to harmonising Croatian legislation on labour rights in the light of chapter 19 of the acquis communautaire;
- a comparison between collective bargaining in the tourism sector in Italy and in Croatia with a survey and a workshop at the end of the activity;
- identification of Italian companies operating in the Italian and in the Croatian territories with separate branches with a view to organising meetings between trade unions of the same sectors to enhance cooperation and achieve similar collective bargaining results between the two countries.
A voting was held on the proposal on the 2009 planning, as described above. However, economic viability could not be ascertained, as financing from the Autonomous Region Friuli Venezia Giulia, under article 5 of the Regional Act n. 11 of 1996 and subsequent amendments and integrations, may be significantly reduced next year. The General Assembly unanimously adopted the proposal.
4. No requests to take the floor were made on this last item of the agenda.
As no requests to take the floor were made, Luca Visentini officially closed the meeting of the General Assembly at 18.43.
The minute-taker
Michele Berti