The CGIL and UIL trade unions organised a general transport strike on Friday to protest against the government’s budget law and lack of raised wages, which has garnered criticism from Transport Minister Salvini, who says citizens will suffer from the disruption.
Lega (ID) condemned the 24-hour strike, saying it would harm citizens and block cities. The minister called CGIL secretary Maurizio Landini “capricious” for his demands.
“Millions of Italians cannot be hostage to the whims of Landini, who wants to organise yet another long weekend”, Salvini said. This will be the fourth protest in a month and a half.
Landini immediately responded to Salvini’s provocation by accusing him of not realising all the promises made during the election campaign, which then led to the victory of the centre-right coalition led by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
“I understand his nervousness (…) Perhaps Salvini, who has never worked, is thinking about his weekend”, Landini said, pointing out that the Meloni government has not raised wages or done pension reform, as promised in the election programme.
Although the Strike Guarantee Commission made it clear that it did not want to call into question the exercise of the right to strike, it denied the unions the possibility of reaching a ‘general strike’ of 24 consecutive hours for lack of requirements, reducing it to eight hours and asking them to postpone it to another date.
“Rejected the claim of the CGIL leader to spend a long weekend on the skin of millions of Italians. The too many years in the service of the PD (S&D) in the national government have rusted the CGIL, which has evidently forgotten the ABC”, said the League in a note referring to the “capricious” Landini “grounded” by the Commission.
The trade unions did not stand for this and confirmed the proclamation of the general strike and its modalities for Friday, despite Salvini’s threat of preceptorship and the protests of the Guarantee Commission.
“We do not agree with the decision taken by the Guarantee Commission. It is an interpretation that does not recognise the discipline of the general strike, and, in fact, calls into question the effective exercise of the right to strike enshrined in the Constitution for all workers”, the unions wrote in a note.
Uil Secretary General Pierpaolo Bombardieri, a guest during the TV programme Tagadà on La7, called it “curious” that what Salvini said about the protest coincided with the decision of the Guarantee Commission.
“They are experts appointed by this government. Explaining to the unions that it is not a general strike but an inter-sector strike is a stance, a singular view. We have no intention of respecting the prohibitions of the guarantee commission of the government”, Bombardieri said.
The fight between trade unions and the government has divided public opinion. Labour lawyer Pietro Ichino, in an interview with Corriere della Sera, spoke of trade union behaviour that is “emptying the meaning of the instrument of struggle”.
The strike, if organised in this way and close to the weekend, has become a “routine” and, according to Ichino, is characterised by “a certain amount of opportunism”.
(Federica Pascale | Euractiv.it)
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