Bruno Trentin (9 December 1926 – 23 August 2007) was an Italian trade unionist and politician, General Secretary of

Italian General Confederation of Labour The Italian General Confederation of Labour (; CGIL) is a national trade union based in Italy. It was formed by agreement between socialists, communists, and Christian democrats in the "Pact of Rome" of June 1944. In 1950, socialists and Christi ...

from 1988 to 1994.

Biography

Trentin was born in Pavie, France, where his parents lived after escaping from the

Fascist regime Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy an ...

. After the Armistice of Cassibile, the Trentin family came back to Italy and joined the Italian resistance movement: at the age of 17, Trentin became the leader of the "Justice and Freedom" Brigade. In 1949, Trentin graduated in Law at the

University of Padua The University of Padua ( it, Università degli Studi di Padova, UNIPD) is an Italian university located in the city of Padua, region of Veneto, northern Italy. The University of Padua was founded in 1222 by a group of students and teachers from ...

, adhering to the

Proudhonian Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (, , ; 15 January 1809, Besançon – 19 January 1865, Paris) was a French socialist,Landauer, Carl; Landauer, Hilde Stein; Valkenier, Elizabeth Kridl (1979) 959 "The Three Anticapitalistic Movements". ''European Social ...

thoughts, and joined both the

and the

Italian Communist Party The Italian Communist Party ( it, Partito Comunista Italiano, PCI) was a communist political party in Italy. The PCI was founded as ''Communist Party of Italy'' on 21 January 1921 in Livorno by seceding from the Italian Socialist Party (PSI) ...

, with which he was elected to the city council of

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

and to the Chamber of Deputies. In 1988, Trentin became Secretary-general of the CGIL: in 1992, together with the leaders of the

Italian Confederation of Workers' Trade Unions The Confederazione Italiana Sindacati Lavoratori (''CISL''; ''Italian Confederation of Trade Unions'') is an Italian trade union association representing various Catholic–inspired groups linked with Christian Democracy. It was founded on 30 Apr ...

and the Italian Labour Union, Trentin signed a deal that put an end to the

sliding wage scale The sliding wage scale consists in increasing the wages as the prices rise in order to maintain the purchasing power of the workers even if there is inflation. Application In France The sliding wage scale was introduced in France in July 1952 under ...

system. From 1999 to 2004, Trentin has been a member of the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

, elected with the

Democrats of the Left The Democrats of the Left ( it, Democratici di Sinistra, DS) was a social-democratic political party in Italy. The DS, successor of the Democratic Party of the Left (PDS) and the Italian Communist Party, was formed in 1998 upon the merger of th ...

. Trentin died in

on 23 August 2007, at the age of 80, of

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severi ...

. He is now buried in the Verano Cemetery.

References

External links

*Files about his parliamentary activities (in Italian)
IV
legislature {{DEFAULTSORT:Trentin, Bruno 1926 births 2007 deaths Italian Communist Party politicians Italian trade unionists 20th-century Italian politicians 21st-century Italian politicians Italian resistance movement members Deaths from pneumonia in Lazio