Until the end of the World War, the CGIL worked in the freed regions to spread the so-called "Labour Chambers" and stipulated wage agreements.

[9] With the general insurrection proclaimed by the Italian Resistance on 25 April 1945 and the definitive defeat of the Nazi-Fascist regime, the CGIL extended its influence throughout the country.

[10][11] On 1 February 1947, Salvatore Giuliano, a Sicilian bandit and separatist leader, killed 11 farmworkers and wounded other 27, during May Day celebrations in the municipality of Piana degli Albanesi.

According to newspaper reports hints at the possibility of civil war were heard as communist leaders harangued meetings of 6,000,000 workers who struck throughout Italy in protest against the massacre.

[13] After a few months, in the first national congress, which took place in Florence in June 1947, the CGIL registered 5,735,000 members and Giuseppe Di Vittorio, from the PCI, was elected General Secretary.

[14][15] The pretext that the Christian democratic faction was trying to create to split from the CGIL was provided by the general strike that the Confederation proclaimed following the attack to the communist leader, Palmiro Togliatti, which took place outside the Italian Parliament on 14 July 1948.

To increase the repression against communists, the American ambassadress in Italy, Clare Boothe Luce, declared that the companies where the CGIL trade unionists obtained more than 50% of the votes in the internal commission's election, could not have access to deals with the United States of America.

[21] Moreover, Pope Pius XII launched the excommunication to the communists and favoured the alliance between DC and neo-fascist Italian Social Movement (MSI), for the Municipality of Rome.

[22][23] Giuseppe Di Vittorio, along with the socialist Fernando Santi, reacted to the Government and Confindustria, launching the "Work Plan", a major political initiative with an alternative idea of economic and social development.

For CGIL it was a very difficult moment: Di Vittorio, who, unlike the Communist Party, had immediately condemned the Soviet invasion, was forced by Togliatti to a humiliating retraction.

[27] He directed the CGIL during the post-war period, preserving its internal unity and creating the premises for the resumption of the unitary dialogue with CISL and UIL.

[39] The CGIL–CISL–UIL Federation will guarantee the unitary management of the main trade union events for all the 1970s and will be dissolved only after the so-called "Valentine's Day decree" of Bettino Craxi's government in 1984.

[45] In February 1978 three trade unions, on the initiative of Luciano Lama, ratified at the Palazzo dei Congressi in Rome, a document, known as the "EUR Turn", proposing a wage restraint in exchange for an economic policy that would support the development and defend employment.

[46] But in those years, CGIL and the unitary union were mostly committed to fighting the strategy of tension, defending democracy and democratic institutions from terrorist attacks.

On 14 February 1984, the government led by socialist Prime Minister, Bettino Craxi, unilaterally reduced the "escalator" with the famous "Valentine's Day decree".

[51][52] The defeat in the referendum on the escalator opened a difficult period for the CGIL, in a context marked by a drastic loss of representativeness of the three confederations and the birth of small autonomous trade unions.

Bruno Trentin, to prevent a new dramatic rupture between the unions, signed the agreement and then resigned, being that signature contrary to the negotiating mandate of the governing bodies of CGIL.

Amato's government decided a drastic devaluation of Italian lira, the consequent exit from the European Monetary System and an extraordinary financial bill of one hundred thousand billion.

[58][59] The first act of the Berlusconi's government concerned the attempt to radically reduce the Italian social security system, breaking the "pact between generations" that supports it.

The great popular participation in protest put the centre-right coalition in crisis and, with the withdrawal of the League from the cabinet, the Berlusconi's government fell.

[60] With the victory of Romano Prodi's centre-left coalition in 1996 general election, the dialogue with the trade union movement was strengthened and, as already mentioned, allowed Italy to reach Euro convergence criteria and enter into the single currency.

[61] CGIL, CISL and UIL were also protagonists of a battle against the secessionism of the League, which put at risk the political unity of Italy, with major demonstrations in Milan and Venice.

It was the largest mass demonstration in Italian history, with more than three million people gathered at the Circus Maximus in Rome to protest against the abolition of Article 18.

[67] Camusso's secretariat was characterized by the Great Recession and the European sovereign debt crisis, which harshly affected Italy in the early 2010s, leading Berlusconi to resign in November 2011.

The proposals faced a strong opposition from Camusso's CGIL and other trade unions, which was followed by public protests, which forced the government to withdraw the amendment on Article 18.

[75] In 2014, Article 18 was finally abolished by the centre-left cabinet of Matteo Renzi as part of a huge labour market reform called the Jobs Act.

[80][81] After years of fights to protect Article 18 from the reforms promoted by the centre-right, it was finally abolished by the centre-left, causing a serious break between CGIL and its political counterpart, the Democratic Party.

[85][86] During his inaugural speech, Landini strongly attacked the M5S–League government and especially its Interior Minister, Matteo Salvini, denouncing a serious risk of a return of fascism in the country.

[87] On 9 February, CGIL, CISL and UIL protested together in Rome, against the economic measures promoted by Conte's government; more than 200,000s people participated in the march.

[89] On 9 October 2021, the CGIL's national headquarters in Rome was attacked by a mob of members of the neo-fascist party New Force, who were protesting against the introduction of a COVID-19 vaccination certificate in Italy.