Emilio Gabaglio (1 July 1937 – 7 October 2024) was an Italian trade union leader.

Life and career

Born in

Como Como (, ; , or ; ) is a city and (municipality) in Lombardy, Italy. It is the administrative capital of the Province of Como. Nestled at the southwestern branch of the picturesque Lake Como, the city is a renowned tourist destination, ce ...

, Gabaglio studied economics at the

University of Milan The University of Milan (; ), officially abbreviated as UNIMI, or colloquially referred to as La Statale ("the State niversity), is a public university, public research university in Milan, Italy. It is one of the largest universities in Eu ...

. He became a secondary school teacher, and in 1964 he joined a union which was affiliated with the

Italian Confederation of Workers' Trade Unions The Italian Confederation of Trades Unions (, ; CISL ) is a national trade union centre in Italy representing various Catholic-inspired groups linked with Christian Democracy party. It was founded on 30 April 1950, when Catholics in the Italian ...

(CISL). He was active in the

Christian Associations of Italian Workers The Christian Associations of Italian Workers (''Associazioni Cristiane dei Lavoratori Italiani'', ACLI; alternatively translated as Italian Christian Workers' Association) are a widespread lay Catholic association in Italy. Its work is based on th ...

(ACLI), and was elected as its national president in 1969. His mandate was perhaps the most tormented, because it began shortly after the break with the Catholic hierarchy: with a letter dated 6 March 1970, Cardinal Antonio Poma, president of the Italian Episcopal Conference, asked for an account of the choices made by the Labor presidency and confirmed by Gabaglio, who convened, claiming the autonomy of the movement, a conference which was held in Vallombrosa from 27 to 30 August 1970, under the title of “Workers' Movement, Capitalism, Democracy”, during which what was called “the socialist hypothesis" of the ACLI was launched. He moved the organisation to the left, encouraging it to adopt

Christian socialist A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the world. The words ''Christ'' and ''Chr ...

positions. This led a right-wing minority to split away as the Workers' Christian Movement, and in 1971,

Pope Paul VI Pope Paul VI (born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 until his death on 6 August 1978. Succeeding John XXII ...

publicly deplored the ACLI. Gabaglio stood down from the ACLI in 1972, and found work as head of the international department of CISL. He represented it to the

International Confederation of Free Trade Unions The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) was an international trade union. It came into being on 7 December 1949 following a split within the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU), and was dissolved on 31 October 2006 whe ...

, the

International Labour Organization The International Labour Organization (ILO) is a United Nations agency whose mandate is to advance social and economic justice by setting international labour standards. Founded in October 1919 under the League of Nations, it is one of the firs ...

, and the

Trade Union Advisory Committee to the OECD The Trade Union Advisory Committee to the OECD (TUAC) is the interface of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) with organized labour. TUAC has 59 affiliated trade union centres in 31 OECD countries, representing more ...

. In 1983, he joined the national secretariat of CISL, becoming the federation's lead on regional and environmental policy and internal organisation, and then from 1989 on European policy. In 1991, Gabaglio was elected as 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 ...

, in which role he faced the decline of some of its members organisations, but facilitated the admission of new federations from Eastern Europe. He stood down in 2003, and became active in the Democratic Party. From 2006, he was the European Affairs Counselor for the Italian Minister of Labour, then in 2009 became president of the Democratic Party's Work Forum. Gabaglio died on 7 October 2024, at the age of 87.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gabaglio, Emilio 1937 births 2024 deaths Italian trade unionists People from Como