Fedeli Valeria

I was born in Treviglio, in the province of Bergamo on July 29, 1949 and married.
After taking the triennial diploma to teach in kindergarten, I moved to Milan where I worked as a teacher for the municipality. During the same period I obtained the three-year degree of social assistant at UNSAS.
My experience at the Italian General Confederation of Labour (CGIL) began with several assignments: first in FLELS (Federazione Lavoratori Enti Locali e Sanità) in Milan, where I also followed the school sector, then in Rome, in the national secretariat of the Public Function and in National CGIL, where I worked on the creation of the SLC (Communication Workers’ Union).
In 1996 I was elected to the National Secretariat of FILTEA (Italian Federation of Workers in Textiles and Leather Clothing and Footwear). In 2000 I was elected National Secretary-General- position that I held until 2010 and in 2001 I was elected President of FILTEA (European Trade Union Federation of Textiles, Clothing and Leather) remaining in office until 2012.
After the unification of the textile, chemical and energy categories, I have been the deputy secretary of FILCTEM from 2010 to 2012. It was in those years that I became vice president of the new European industry federation (EIWF, which combines textiles, chemical and mechanical branches).
Since 2012, until my candidacy as senator in the 2013 political elections (as a leading candidate in Tuscany for the Democratic Party), I was national Vice President of Federconsumatori.
It is thanks to this thirty years of work representation that I was defined as a pragmatic trade unionist. Reformism, an ideal vision conjugated with the concrete commitment to achieve results for workers and the search for paths of confrontation and change aimed at the growth of the country system, represent a characteristic feature of my work, both in Italy than in Europe.
Throughout my life and in my political, trade union and institutional engagement, I have always fought for the rights and freedoms of women, for equality and overcoming all forms of discrimination. They are among the founders of “Se non ora quando?”.
I have been involved in the construction of industrial policies for the competitiveness and internationalization of the Italian fashion production system, sitting at the Tavolo per lo sviluppo del Made in Italy by the Ministry of Economic Development during the first Prodi Government, defending the idea that the rights and the quality of production processes and products are the two components on which to focus and that knowing and knowing how to do is the key to winning the global challenge of sustainable competitiveness.
I have also been part of the Delegation for negotiations on the new rules of international trade – the Doha Round of 2003 – as a strong supporter of the idea that globalization is decisive to understand and govern the change. Even at European level, I have been working on commercial policies of reciprocity, fairness and openness in the dialogue between the European Union and China and contributed to the construction of counterfeit counterfeiting plans, the traceability and the transparency of production processes.
In February 2013 I was elected senator and from March 2013 to December 2016 I was Vice-President of the Senate.
From December 12, 2016, I am Minister of Education, Universities and Research, a role I intend to fulfill with great commitment and dedication.

Source: http://www.valeriafedeli.it/chi-sono/