Press release

Fai-Cisl Press Office, 5 April 2024 - The conference entitled "Educational value and social relevance of Giuseppe Toniolo's work. Ten years of cultural initiatives” organized by the national and regional levels of the Fai-Cisl, in the presence of over one hundred delegates, more than thirty operators and many managers of the agri-food and environmental union of the Cisl. The morning also saw the presence of managers from the cooperative world from the provinces of Treviso and Belluno, which include 140 cooperative enterprises with 34.420 members and 9.328 employees, for an aggregate turnover of over 1 billion and 800 million euros.

“An opportunity to present the fundamental figure of the sociologist and economist Giuseppe Toniolo to a trade union audience to discuss the themes of the common good, the social doctrine of the Church and in general the important generative effect that the thought of the blessed from Treviso has had in history of the ecclesial and civil community, reaching up to the present day as a high reference and an important contribution" explained the sociologist Ludovico Ferro, scientific director of the Fai-Cisl Studies and Research Foundation, which organized the event.

The conference opened with greetings from the Deputy Mayor of Pieve di Soligo Luisa Cigagna, of the General Secretary of CISL Veneto Gianfranco Refosco and the introduction of Andrea Zanin, general secretary of the Fai Cisl of Veneto. Then the sociologist Ludovico Ferro, the contemporary scholar, spoke Guasco tree and the scientific director and vice president of the Beato Toniolo Institute, Marco Zabotti: “Today there are many significant experiences, also referring to Toniolo, which need to be put online. We need widespread leadership across the territories – continued Zabotti – which is however capable of speaking in a national and European dimension with a strong, united voice, which knows how to valorise work, the social economy and the protection of people”.

The second part of the meeting, focused on Toniolo's legacy in the economic and social fields, saw the interventions of Vincenzo Conso, president of the Fai Cisl Foundation, Studies and Research and president of FOR.AGRI, Teresa Grava, member of the board of directors of Banca Prealpi SanBiagio, of Lorenzo Brugnera, president of Latteria Soligo and president of Confcooperative Belluno and Treviso, of Raffaella Da Ros, president of the cooperative Insieme Si Pu and of Alessandro Toffoli, president of the “Giuseppe Toniolo” Rural Families Association.

He finished the work Onofrio Rota, national general secretary of the FA CISL: "We are living in a time of profound anxiety where it is urgent to generate a cultural change that restores the person and the

work at the center. Giuseppe Toniolo – underlined Rota – remains an extraordinary reference, also for the trade union world. In fact, his thoughts on the ethical value of the common good, on worker participation, on inequalities, on innovation, on ethical finance are very timely. His reflections have influenced many of our trade union actions, not least the CISL popular initiative law proposal on worker participation in corporate governance. We will continue on the path traced by Toniolo to strengthen our trade union action in building a new humanism of work".

Speakers of the day

Toniolo conference room

Panel discussion