Background
Cofferati was born at Sesto ed Uniti, in the province of Cremona.
Cofferati was born at Sesto ed Uniti, in the province of Cremona.
He led the CGIL until 2002, after having obtained some relevant triumphs such as negotiating the reform of pensions in 1995, and opposing the change of article 18 of the "workers" statute", a 1970 bill, which allows Italian judges to condemn enterprise to assume workers from theirself fired. After having left his position in the CGIL, he went back to his position at Pirelli but his old factory didn"t exist anymore. In 2004, he was elected as Mayor of Bologna, replacing Giorgio Guazzaloca.
In 2008, he decided not to run for his second term as mayor.
In 2009 he has been candidated and elected to the European Parliament.
He has been a Member of the European Parliament since 2009, elected as a candidate of the Democratic Party. Initially an employee for the Milan"s Pirelli and a member of CGIL, Cofferati rose up in the major Italian trade union, becoming leader of Filcea (the chemical labour wing of CGIL) in 1988, and leader of the CGIL itself in 1990, succeeding Bruno Trentin.