General Secretary of Ferpa

The General Secretary is responsible for the organizational activities of Ferpa. The General Secretary shall be a permanent official. He is spokesperson of Ferpa and promote and co-ordinate its activities in liaison with the Steering Committee. The current Secretary General of Ferpa is Agostino Siciliano.

Agostino Siciliano’s biography

He was born in Italy, in Riesi (Province of Caltanissetta) in 1950, the sixth son of a Sicilian family.
In 1951, his family emigrated in search of work and settled in Rome. At the age of nine, in his fifth year of compulsory education, he started working in an ironworking business.

After obtaining his primary school certificate, he began working full time as an apprentice blacksmith.

At the age of 20, during his 15 months of compulsory military service, he completed his middle school diploma. After finishing his period of military service, he resumed work in that same ironworking business.

In 1974, at the age of 24, having been successful in the public selection process, he began working at the Manifattura Tabacchi [Tobacco Manufacturing] of Rome (State Monopolies) as a “journeyman blacksmith and forger”. He joined the Italian Labour Union (UIL), UIL Monopoli [Monopolies] section, and in the same year began taking an interest in trade union activity.

From 1974 to 1982, he took on the following positions at UIL Monopoli: Representative of the Manifattura Tabacchi; Member of the Works Council; Instructor at the UIL Trade Union School of Lavinio; Provincial Secretary of Rome; Regional Secretary of Lazio.

In 1982, the UIL appointed him as its representative in the Centre for Research and Documentation of work-related hazards and injuries (CRD), for CGIL, CISL and UIL, a highly renowned centre internationally.

After the closure of the CRD, he worked in the field of the prevention of work hazards at the national headquarters of the UIL Confederation in Rome for another two years.

In 1986, he returned to the section and was elected National Secretary of UIL Monopoli and, the following year, joined the Management Board of State Monopolies as an alternate member. In 1997, he was elected National General Secretary of UILA Monopoli, where he dealt with the complex privatisation of the autonomous State Monopolies authority, with all its repercussions on employment, the closure of offices and on personnel. He also supervised all negotiations for the tobacco sector, by delegation of the UILA (Unione Italiana dei Lavoratori Agroalimentari – Italian Union of Agroalimentary Workers).

In 1999, the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic was conferred on him by the President of the Italian Republic, on the proposal of the President of the Council of Ministers.

On completion of the Monopolies privatisation phase, he was elected National Secretary of UIL Pensioners in 2004. He held this position until 22 October 2018, the week following the 8th FERPA Congress.

In 2008, on the recommendation of UIL, he was appointed by the Minister of Labour to the Executive Committee of the Employees’ Pension Fund at the Italian National Institute for Social Security (INPS). In 2016, on the recommendation of UIL, he was elected President of the Pension Fund Committee at the INPS, position he held until 2020. In 2020 he has been reelected in to the Executive Committee of the Fund, position he has held until 2022.

In 2011, he joined the Board of Directors of FERPA.

In 2017, he was elected interim General Secretary of FERPA for a period of six months.

On 17 October 2018, during the 8th Congress of the European Federation of Retired and Elderly Persons, he was unanimously elected General Secretary of FERPA.

On 6 April 2023 he has been reelected General Secretary of FERPA.