Union leader Cofferati takes on Berlusconi

If anyone has given Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi sleepless nights since he came to power last June, it is Sergio Cofferati, the leader of Italy`s largest and most militant labour union.

With 5.4 million members at his command - even if half of them are pensioners - Cofferati, 54, has the power to bring national activity to a halt and isn`t afraid to use it.

If Berlusconi had any doubts about his strength, they were erased last month when up to two million people turned out onto the streets of Rome at Cofferati`s bidding to oppose the government`s plans for labour reform.

Today, Cofferati takes centre-stage again when Italy`s three major unions, the CGIL, UIL and CISL, hold the first full day general strike the country has seen in 20 years to protest Berlusconi`s plans for overhauling the rigid labour market.

While the three unions, which together represent some 11.2 million people, will strike as one, it is largely thanks to Cofferati`s clever cajoling that they will stand united.

In a demonstration that will hark back to Berlusconi`s last time in office in 1994, when more than one million people protested against pension reform and his government later fell, Cofferati has confidently declared that "there will be millions in the streets to stop this government" on Tuesday.

But for many observers of his career, the day will not be so much about the anger and discontent of Italy`s labour movement, but the emergence of Cofferati as a future leader of Italy`s left-wing opposition.

Cofferati spent his formative years on the shop-floor, beginning work at cabling and tyre maker Pirelli as a 21-year-old in the late 1960s.

After joining CGIL, Italy`s most left-wing union with strong ties to the former Communist Party, now the largest opposition party and renamed the Democrats of the Left, he rose quickly through the ranks, becoming secretary-general in 1994.

Mild-mannered and a careful measurer of words, Cofferati has an intellectual bent and is a formidable debater, often out-scoring seasoned politicians on Italy`s evening current affairs programmes.

He has also shown skill at keeping the major unions together during the past six months of often heated negotiations with the government over the labour reforms.

While he is often sharply critical of the government, and has received plenty of criticism in return, Cofferati tends to avoid aggressive rhetoric, giving the impression he is ready to wage a long, steady campaign against Berlusconi`s plans.

Yet he is due to step down as CGIL leader in June, leaving him with little time to seek victory in the current battle.

Come June, most expect him to take a more active role in politics. A long-standing member of the Democrats of the Left, he is regularly described as the only man capable of uniting the divided opposition and mounting a serious challenge to Berlusconi.

Last year, just two weeks after Berlusconi won the elections, the centrist La Stampa newspaper was already pointing to Cofferati as the prime minister`s biggest threat.

"Cofferati is the head of the only opposition that Berlusconi really fears," the paper wrote. "The only really serious threat comes from Cofferati and the unions."

But playing his cards characteristically close to his chest, Cofferati has side-stepped all talk of a major role in politics.

Asked during a radio interview last week what his plans were come June, he said he was even considering going back to work for Pirelli.

Pirelli chairman Marco Tronchetti Provera said at the weekend he`d be delighted to have Cofferati back on his payroll. "We always welcome talented people at Pirelli," he said.