CGIL, most left-wing of the unions, was already limbering up for its own rally on March 23rd.

ECONOMIST: Italy

The CGIL's intransigence creates a special problem for one of them, its historic ally, the centre-left Democratic Party (PD).

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Organised by the metalworkers' union FIOM and the CGIL union, Saturday's peaceful march and rally drew supporters from across the country.

BBC: Italy coalition: Thousands rally in Rome against cuts

At a long-shuttered plant near Turin that Fiat has bought from another carmaker, 89% of the idled workers voted for the changes despite Fiom-Cgil's strong presence.

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Maurizio Landini, secretary-general of Fiom-Cgil, a metalworkers' union which has fought hard against Fiat's new working conditions, says his main fear is that Fabbrica Italia only exists on paper.

ECONOMIST: Italy worries that its biggest manufacturer may leave

That will scarcely impress workers who, the same day, heeded a call by the biggest and most militant of Italy's trade union federations, the CGIL, to hold a national one-day strike.

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The bill, which began its parliamentary journey this week, has been rejected outright by Italy's biggest trade-union federation, the CGIL. That stance has put the leaders of the centre-left Democratic Party (PD) between the rock of their historic ties to organised labour and the hard place of support for the government.

ECONOMIST: Italian politics: Jittery Italy | The