Abstract

Piero Boni led the Italian General Confederation of Labour (CGIL) until 1977, during the most difficult years of the history of the Italian political system. He sought middle ground between confederalism and federalism of union organisations, and adopted an 'Italian approach' to innovation within the trade union, suitable to face the challenges posed by western capitalism. He aimed at achieving full autonomy of the union organisation from the political party it refereed to, being aware of the ever growing gap between political representation of labour, and political representation of the party. This essay outlines that today, as the debate focuses on the change in the current structure of union organisations, Piero Boni's thoughts and works are of utmost importance for some serious reflection on the role of trade unions in the third millennium.