Workers' Participation and Control in Italy: The Case of Occupational Medicine

Abstract

This article sets forth a historical and current analysis of (a) the occupational health services in Italy; and (b) the political, economic, and social forces that determined them. Special focus is placed on the analysis of the events leading to the establishment in 1969 of forms of direct democracy at the workplace, i.e. workers' committees, and their consequences for the occupational health services. Also described and analyzed are the responsibilities and modus operandi of these committees in the creation and reproduction of scientific knowledge at the point of production. The relationship between the workers' committees, the “experts,” and the institutions of medicine, as well as that between the workers' committees, political parties, and the trade unions, is also discussed. An update on the impact that recent political developments have had on these workers' committees concludes the article.