Premier Matteo Renzi is not backed by honest Italians, Maurizio Landini, the leader of the FIOM metalworkers union, said on Friday. "Renzi recognises that he doesn't have the support of honest people, of workers and of those who are looking for work," Landini, who has been leading protests against the government's Jobs Act labour reform, said at a rally in Naples. The FIOM is part of Italy's biggest trade-union confederation, the CGIL, which has called a general strike to protest against the Jobs Act and the government's 2015 budget law on December 12 along with another big union, the UIL. Landini's comments immediately drew an indignant reaction.
"Personally, I consider myself very honest," said Giorgio Squinzi, the head of industrial employers confederation Confindustria. "We believe that this country needs a new climate of industrial relations".
Matteo Orfini, the president of Renzi's centre-left Democratic Party (PD), said Landini had offended millions. " "By saying that the government doesn't have the support of honest people, he offended millions of workers who believe in the PD," Orfini said via Twitter. "I'm sorry that it came from a trade unionist".
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