"Leaving for a new journey is a bit like being born again" 

(Ella Maillard, traveler and writer) 

Everyone has a story, and personal stories always start from childhood and the initial imprinting. As adults we can choose whether to refuse or make it our own, but imprinting will always be an important part of our life.

I grew up in a politically engaged family, during the years of great social struggles. For this reason it was natural, for me, from the beginning of my professional life, join the union and share its struggles. 

After graduation I started working in a bank and today I'm still working in this sector. Although I've always followed union activities, my work commitment was substantially professional in the company. I worked for years in the Information Technology sector and after in the business analysis sector. 

I had three children at different times in my life. This was a commitment and a wealth: one becomes "teachers by force" and for love one must learn to listen and not judge.

I was lucky enough to be able to cultivate other passions besides family, work, trade union, political activity. I have followed creative writing courses and traveled all over Europe and in different countries around the world. The union of these two passions materializes in my travel report that you can find in the "Looking for Itaca" section.

"You must no longer take your hat off in front of anyone, in front of the owner, because you are equal to the others"   

(Giuseppe Di Vittorio, CGIL General Secretary 1930-1957)

CGIL is the oldest Italian trade union organization and is also the most representative one, with its over five million members, including workers, retirees and young new workers. It was founded in 1906 and its history is deeply intertwined with Italian history. CGIL has always been a strong point not only in union action, but also and above all in the battles for the defense and growth of democracy in Italy.

CGIL national training office reflects its confederal nature. CGIL has chosen to play only a coordination role and collection of the various experiences gained in its categories of workers. CGIL national training office tries to motivate the regions in order to empower the training of new trainers. For this purpose it makes use of the collaboration of expert trainers, coming from the most advanced regions in the training field.

However, there are some courses organized by the confederation and offered to region structures. For example, an articulated course about gender training has recently been proposed, in collaboration with the Fondazione Di Vittorio. The Fondazione Di Vittorio is the national institute of the CGIL for historical research, economic, social and union training.

In the last two years, the CGIL national training office has organized a meeting among trainers from all over Italy, called the Training Festival. This year has been suspended due to restrictive measures for Covid-19. To overcome the temporary impossibility of holding courses in the classroom, online training experiments have been launched.

CGIL members who work in the banking and insurance sector are organized in FISAC (Federation of banking and insurance workers). It has thirty years' training experience, organized by a network of regional trainers coordinated by a national training office. The training activities are carried out both at regional and national level. The topics range from transversal to technical skills. A national trainers training activity is carried out every year; that allows not only to refine the tools of the trainers, but also to compare topics and experiences carried out locally.

The national Fisac ​​training for many years has had moments of comparison with the academic world and university research. The aim is to increase the knowledge of the trade union world. The scientific fields are those of sociology, social psychology, docimology, political economy.

Nowadays trade union training is facing with digitization and technological innovation topics and their consequence on workers.

Furthermore, for over ten years Fisac with the CGIL has been involved in the management of bilateral funds. These funds are used to create training plans aimed at retraining workers, in collaboration with credit and insurance companies.

The FBA (Fondo Banche e Assicurazioni) manages training projects submitted by companies in collaboration with company trade unionists.

These projects are financed by the contribution of 0.30% of the wage bill of the sector. The fund is a body governed by public law and the administration of resources is most rigorous, managed by a Board of directors made up of union and company representatives.

We trainers are engaged in the organization and management of courses for company trade unionists, with the aim of making known how the FBA fund works and how companies prepare training plans. In this way it would be a full union responsibility in the delivery of courses to employees.

In 2018 I attended at a training course for FBA trainers and received the certificate of trainer.

Last but not least, the Fund has become a certification body of banking professional skills. The certification is recognized at European Level in order to make the opportunity for any bank or finance worker to work in any EU country feasible. In Fisac we are committed to ensuring that the certification tool is an opportunity for our members and protection of their skills.

It is a first step towards building a professional profile framework at European Level EQF, which since 2008 has been trying to build in our country in order to make it competitive with other EU countries.

"Life is nothing more than an incessant series of experiments"

(Mahatma Gandhi)

Since 2014 I have chosen to give priority to union commitment over professional commitment in the company. I was elected Secretary in the Rome SPC territorial district of Fisac (Federation of banking and insurance workers), which is part of the CGIL trade union confederation (Confederazione Generale Italiana del Lavoro). In addition to the trade union labour in the company, working in the local union and for the confederation is a strong growth factor of the trade unionist. In this way they acquire a wider vision of the workers problems, and the people too, inside the places where they live and where they are part of society.

In 2016, I was elected into the National Fisac Gender Executive. I consider very important for me this commitment. because I think that gender pay gap and cultural discrimination against women is the greatest component of inequality. 

In June 2021 I was elected General Secretary in another territorial district of Fisac (Roma RiEVA), which includes the eastern sector of Rome and the entire eastern part of the Lazio region. 

The political role takes up most of the time I dedicate to the union. At the same time, however, my collaboration in union teaching was starting, an area that I'm passionate about. In teaching you can give and receive a lot, if you work with both the brain and the heart. 

In Fisac I started as a consultant for a training seminar about "smartworking" and in the writing of a specific ebook. 

I also carried out consultancy on technical issues and tutoring in classrooms, in collaboration with our most experienced trainer who works mainly in the Lazio region, but also in the national country. For specific topics, such as Mifid2  I designed the course and taught in classroom.

In 2018 I also started collaborating with Lazio region CGIL training office, joining the network of regional and national trainers. Also in the CGIL my collaboration takes the same form as for Fisac federation, in terms of consultancy and tutoring. For specific topics, I designed the course and taught in classroom, too (for example, see Blockchain and cryptocurrencies).

In January 2019 I had the opportunity to attend at the ETT1 course in Brussels, where I can meet trainers from other European countries. It was also an opportunity to exchange experiences, as well as a moment of training.

From my experience as a trainer, not long but intense, I am drawing several lessons and food for thought. First of all, I think teaching cannot be a stage to perform, but a place to put one's skills at the service of the workers' cause, for the growth of individuals and the whole community.

The liberal policies adopted in the last thirty years have made the world of work increasingly difficult. Trade unionists need to handle serious and often brand new problems, sometimes epochal as this year with the pandemic Covid-19.

I think that continuous training is necessary, starting from trainers to reach any trade unionists and members. It's necessary to provide them the tools to manage changes. A knowledge made not only of know how, but also psychology and effective communication.