Trade unions: the blockchain card arrives in Italy

The Italian trade union Fim Cisl has announced the start of the testing phase of the blockchain-based union card, with which testing will begin for the first users of the new platform. 

It is a tokenized digital card, manageable through apps and transactions via wallets, based on the Ethereum blockchain. 

It should be the first experiment of its kind in the trade union scenario and its objective is to guarantee the univocal subscription of the Fim Cisl trade union card, in order to avoid any attempt to attack privacy and personal data tampering. 

This will allow keeping track of the number of members in a certified way and to have a useful foundation to open a direct and continuous dialogue between union and members, to share announcements, information and new services in a safe and certified way. 

The testing phase with users will last a few months and at the end of it the blockchain-based Digital Card will be officially presented to the public, along with the details of its operation and its potential.

The project was launched last year during the union’s 15th general meeting, and was carried out in collaboration with Alkemy SpA as part of the Secure Open Nets project of the Horizon 2020 programme and with the expert support of the Geckosoft and Security Pattern companies. 

The initiative is linked to the “Manifesto for the Blockchain” launched in 2018 by the famous technologist Massimo Chiriatti together with the Secretary General Fim Cisl Marco Bentivogli, which indicated the potential of this technology for trade unions and labour. 

The official statement of the trade union says: 

“A technology that opens up new scenarios to represent the work of today and the future, where space and time begin to be independent variables and where it is increasingly difficult to be represented without the appropriate technological tools. This will require an increasing number of SmartUnions and trade unionists capable of handling technologies such as smart contracts, blockchain, big data etc. that can best represent the work of the future. The digital card based on blockchain technology can represent a potential way to enhance “the human” within the production processes, enabling economic and social relations in a sustainable way and Fim is a candidate to be a leading player in this transition”.