Luca Visentini (born 1969) is an Italian trade unionist. Elected general secretary of the

International Trade Union Confederation The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC); german: Internationaler Gewerkschaftsbund (IGB), link=no; es, Confederación Sindical Internacional (CSI), link=no. is the world's largest trade union federation. History The federation w ...

at the organisation's 5th World Congress in Melbourne, Australia, in mid-November 2022, he stood aside on 14 December 2022 following his arrest and conditional release in relation to the

Qatar corruption scandal at the European Parliament The Qatar corruption scandal at the European Parliament (referred to in media accounts as Qatargate) is an ongoing political scandal, involving allegations that European Parliament officials, lobbyists and their families have been influenced by ...

. He was previously the General Secretary of the

European Trade Union Confederation The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) is the major trade union organisation representing workers at the European level. In its role as a European social partner, the ETUC works both in a consulting role with the European Commission and ...

(ETUC). He was reelected at the ETUC Congress in Vienna in May 2019, having been first elected in 2015. He has been active in the European trade union movement since the late 1980s, at regional, national and

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...

levels.

Background

After studying philosophy at the

University of Trieste The University of Trieste ( it, Università degli Studi di Trieste, or UniTS) is a public research university in Trieste in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region in northeast Italy. The university consists of 10 departments, boasts a wide and almos ...

, in 1989, he joined the Unione Italiana de Lavoro (UIL), initially taking responsibility for the union’s youth work. In the same year he was selected as General Secretary of UIL’s Federation for Tourism, Trade and Services in

Friuli Venezia Giulia (man), it, Friulana (woman), it, Giuliano (man), it, Giuliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_t ...

. In 1996, he became General Secretary of UIL in

and a member of the union’s national steering and executive committees, as well as General Secretary of the UIL Confederal Chamber of Labour of Trieste. His work covered a wide range of issues including collective bargaining and wages, social dialogue, industrial, labour market and economic policy, social security and public services, as well as communications and human resource management. The following year, he became active at the European level as President of the Inter-Regional Trade Union Council (IRTUC) linking Friuli Venezia Giulia, Veneto and Croatia, and a member of the ETUC IRTUCs Coordination Committee. From 2007-2011 he was committee Vice-President and served on the ETUC's Economic and Employment Committee.

European Trade Union Confederation, 2011–2022

Visentini was elected as ETUC Confederal Secretary at the 12th ETUC Congress in Athens in May 2011. His responsibilities included: Collective bargaining and wage policy; Migration and mobility; Education and training; EU budget, structural funds, economic and social cohesion, regional policy; IRTUCs and the EURES Network. He took part and coordinated workers’ group activities in the European Social Fund Committee; Structured Dialogue for the European Structural and Investment Funds; Advisory Committee for Free Movement of Workers; Directors General Committee for Vocational Education and Training; Advisory Committee for Vocational Education and Training; and Integration Forum for Migrants. Since the ETUC Congress in Paris (October 2015), following his election as ETUC General Secretary, he has also been General Secretary of PERC (Pan-European Regional Council), the ITUC regional organisation representing trade unions across the whole European continent. He was re-elected as General Secretary of the ETUC at Congress in Vienna, in May 2019.

International Trade Union Confederation, 2022–present

Luca Visentini was elected as ITUC General Secretary at the 5th ITUC World Congress in Melbourne, Australia, 17-22 November 2022.

Arrest

In December 2022, just days after being elected as General Secretary of ITUC, Visentini was arrested as part of the

in which Qatar had allegedly paid large sums of cash for influence at the European Parliament. After two days in custody, Visentini was conditionally released.

Other activities

In addition, Luca was President of ISSES, UIL Trieste’s research institute for historical, economic and social studies (2006–2011), President of the Friuli Venezia Giulia branch of UIL’s vocational education and training provider ENFAP (2002–2006), and on the board of Italian International Research Centres Elettra-Sincrotrone and AREA Science Park. In his spare time, Luca is a successful poet and writer, publishing four books of poetry and novels between 2004 and 2012, and has headed a number of cultural associations and networks in the fields of literature and theatre.

Bibliography

*Traduzioni perdute, Ibiskos, 2004 *Corridoio 5, Racconti dal caffè di mezza Europa, Danilo Zanetti Editore, 2004 *Goffi erotismi pagani, Ibiskos, 2007 *Prima della rivoluzione, Lietocolle, 2012

References

External link

{{DEFAULTSORT:Visentini, Luca 1969 births Living people European Trade Union Confederation Italian male poets Italian trade unionists