CGIL launches nationwide health and procurement reform campaign in Italy

The Italian General Confederation of Labour (CGIL) has begun a nationwide campaign to strengthen public health services and curb the use of sub‑contracts in the sector. Secretary‑General Maurizio Landini told a gathering at Rome’s Sandro Pertini Hospital that “reinforcing public health, protecting it, and guaranteeing labour rights by overcoming sub‑contracts means speaking to people’s lives.”

The union is organising an extraordinary signature collection in hospitals across Italy to support two popular‑initiative bills: one to bolster the National Health Service by fully implementing constitutional article 32 and the 1978 health law, and another to reform public procurement and eliminate contract dumping that fuels precarious work. CGIL highlights a decline in health‑staff spending from 39.7 % to 36.6 % of total health expenditure, a nurse‑to‑population ratio of 6.9 per 1,000 versus the OECD average of 9.5, and an ageing workforce with the average age now 49 years and a growing share of workers over 60. The union argues these trends jeopardise the quality and accessibility of care and calls for increased public investment and stronger labour protections.