is dead Guglielmo Epifani, former secretary of the CGIL he was born in Pd, a party he left in 2017: since 2018 he was a member of Free and Equal in quota Article 1-Mdp. He was 71 years old, having been born in Rome on March 24, 1950. His latest intervention, says the archive Ansa, it was precisely for the workers and in particular on the old one Whirlpool dispute: “The government is committed, you have to work on it, put your heart and resources” he asked from the stage of a demonstration, a Roma. “We cannot think of restarting the country and firing”. “The sudden death of Guglielmo Epifani mi pains deeply “, says the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella. “His commitment has brought a contribution to the history of trade union movement Italian and the CGIL in particular, where he was able to express his own reformist vision and their qualities as a committed executive, always attentive to interests of workers. In Parliament he brought his great experience and a baggage of culture who never indulged in sectarianism. I express my feelings of nearness e solidarity to the family and to those who have shared with him the activity of these decades ”, concludes Mattarella.
Roberto Speranza, Minister of Health and Secretary of Article 1 (of which Epifani was a member), underlines “a whole life in defense of work as a fundamental right of every individual. Your lesson will always be alive in those who believe in Democracy and the Constitution. Hi Gugliemo, thanks for everything “. Words similar to those used by the Prime Minister, Mario Draghi: “The life of Guglielmo Epifani was an example of participation democratic e social commitment, always at the service of workers and of weaker. His kindness, integrity and civil passion they will remain in everyone’s memories for a long time. To his wife Maria Giuseppina my heartfelt condolences and those of the government go, ”said the premier. “Elegance is not what you wear, it’s what you are – he adds Pierluigi Bersani – Even in the bitter confrontation and in the hard battle to keep measure and even kindness and cordiality. Always stay on the merits of the problem without ever a tinge of demagogy. This was Guglielmo #Epifani. We’ll miss him”. The leader of the CGIL Maurizio Landini he reiterates: “Guglielmo gave his life for the union. His commitment, his experience will remain forever as an example of what it means to be a union leader ”.
At the news of his death, the meeting between the secretary of the Democratic Party was interrupted Enrico Letta and the secretaries of the confederal trade unions Landini, Luigi Sbarra e Pierpaolo Bombers. “It is dramatic news – says Letta – It is a very sad day”. “We will miss her, we will all miss her intelligence, his Balance, his continuous reminder to the founding values of social justice”Says Leu’s group leader to the House Federico Fornaro. The President of the European Parliament David Sassoli Epifani recalls: “Kind, rigorous, cultured, passionate, always available to fight for a more just society. Farewell to Guglielmo #Epifani. The trade union, politics, the country lose a protagonist ”. To remember the former leader of the Democratic Party were various ministers, from Fabiana Dadone e Federico D’Incà a Giancarlo Giorgetti, Mara Carfagna e Renato Brunetta, also of a socialist background who calls him “a companion in many battles, an example for all of us”. And then again Dario Franceschini (who was a ferryman like him, in 2009) and the Minister of Labor Andrea Orlando (“A person with great humanity, listening skills and a spirit of sincere service”) all party leaders: Giorgia Meloni, Matteo Renzi, Angelo Bonelli, Matteo Salvini. Massimo D’Alema he is “deeply shocked and saddened” also by the admiration for “his intelligent participation and the correctness with which he has interpreted his role in politics and in the trade union”.
Registered before Psi and then of Pds, Epifani was the first socialist secretary of the main Italian trade union since Postwar period: he will remain so for 8 years, starting from 2002. Graduated in philosophy at the Wisdom, thesis on Anna Kuliscioff, immediately enrolled in the CGIL. In the organization of workers, he coordinates the contractual policies of the categories, then leads the Industry office. In 1979 he was deputy general secretary of polygraphers, which at the time were the soul and body of newspapers. He joined the secretariat in 1990 and after 3 years he was assistant secretary alongside Bruno Trentin. He is the deputy of Sergio Cofferati from 1994 to 2002, in the years of energetic battles such as the one that led, in March 2002, three million people to demonstrate Circus Maximus against the abolition ofarticle 18. His last speech from CGIL secretary in Piazza San Giovanni, in Rome, it was for a demonstration of the Fiom. It happens to him Susanna Camusso, the first female secretary of the CGIL.
Close to the locations of Pierluigi Bersani, enters politics in 2013, the year of “non-victory”: he is elected to the House as leader of the Democratic Party in Campania and will be chairman of the Productive Activities Commission of Montecitorio. But still in that year, 3 months after his election, he will be the ferryman of the party after Bersani’s resignation. It will be replaced, with the primary of 8 December, by Matteo Renzi. One of his most controversial decisions was when, out of loyalty to the party, he found himself voting for Jobs Act during the Renzi government, after the battles conducted in defense of article 18, a choice that was contested by the trade union world.
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