Each race arrives at its natural end. Even if Federico Bellono, at the farewell step from the provincial secretary of Fiom Cgil, does not get caught up in emotion or nostalgia. Tomorrow the baton will pass to Edi Lazzi, 37, from Turin and coming from the Collegno area. “But I’m not retired, I’m at the Fiom’s disposal”. To suggest that there will be an “after”.
His “first”, however, has kept him busy until the last few days. Tuesday was in front of Porta Due di Mirafiori to revive the cry of alarm on the conditions of the Turin luxury pole (Mirafiori, but also the Maserati in Grugliasco). And the last months, next to FCA, have engaged him with disputes that are marking an era: that of Embraco and that of Comital-Lamalu. Having to make a summary, Bellano talks about his last eight years as “eight years of resistance, but at the end of which we can say, and it was not obvious, that Fiom is always in the field”.
Arriving at the end of his mandate, today the outgoing secretary has opened the work of the Turin Metalworkers’ Congress. A meeting that recalled 195 delegates elected in the basic assemblies (over 600 in 302 companies in Turin and the province) and also the presence of Francesca Re David, who is the national secretary of Fiom. The work will end only tomorrow with the proclamation of the new provincial secretary,
With Lazzi body will be given to what Bellono himself calls a “generational” renewal, in continuity with the past: we want to look ahead “. But without forgetting what has been done up to now. “We had an important role in Turin, at a time when we had to face the economic crisis, the FCA affair and a model of trade union relations that was decidedly different than in the past, but in the province of Turin there are still 100 thousand metal workers and many issues are still unresolved “.
The work of today’s congress, however, have “left” the spaces of the Turin Fiom, to reach streaming also the Mare Jonio di Mediterranea. It is a boat set up with the support of associations, NGOs and individuals, which works to help migrants in difficulty. “We want to represent our closeness and support to those who help others in a completely disinterested manner, where relief efforts are now reduced to a minimum due to government policies”.
But after 20 years as a trade unionist, how are the workers today? “More alone”, concludes Bellono.