Rome, Lazio, Italy – A nationwide general strike organized by the Cgil trade union is scheduled for Friday, December 12, impacting a wide array of public and private sectors across Italy. The industrial action, called in protest against the government’s financial maneuver, deemed “unjust” by the union, is expected to cause widespread disruptions in transport, education, and healthcare services.
All Sectors Affected by the Strike Action
The strike will involve workers across the entire labor spectrum, encompassing both public and private activities, including outsourced services and support functions. However, essential services mandated by Law 146/1990 will remain operational in areas subject to these regulations, ensuring critical functions are maintained according to specific sector laws.
Education and Public Administration Face Closures
The participation of school staff, including teachers and administrative personnel (ATA), could lead to the suspension of classes, revised timetables, and reduced services for school canteens and after-school programs. Other public sector employees, from healthcare to public administration, are also expected to join the strike. Firefighters will observe a four-hour work stoppage without economic penalties. Shift workers will stop from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM, while those on ordinary hours or administrative duties will strike for their entire daily shift.
Transport Sector Braces for Major Delays
The strike will significantly affect the transport sector, with railway personnel participating from midnight until 9:00 PM on Friday, December 12. Long-distance trains are guaranteed according to agreements with companies like Trenitalia and NTV. For regional train services operated by Trenitalia, Trenitalia Tper, and Trenord, essential services are guaranteed during peak hours: from 6:00 AM to 9:00 AM and from 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM on weekdays.
Fs Italiane Group advises that cancellations and delays may occur both before and after the official strike hours. Passengers are urged to seek updated information before traveling to stations.
Urban Transport: City-Specific Disruptions
The impact on local public transport (buses, trams, and metro) will vary by city:
- Milan: ATM services may be disrupted from 8:45 AM to 3:00 PM. The Como-Brunate funicular may not be guaranteed from 7:30 PM until the end of service.
- Venice: Actv will ensure minimum navigation services and some ferry crossings. Bus and tram services will guarantee all departures from termini from 6:00 AM to 8:59 AM and from 4:30 PM to 7:29 PM.
- Turin: GTT (Gruppo Torinese Trasporti) has set guaranteed hours: 6:00 AM to 9:00 AM and 12:00 PM to 3:00 PM for urban-suburban services, the metro, customer assistants, and customer service center staff. For extra-urban services and the Linea 3971 cooperative bus service (Ciriè-Ceres route), vehicles will operate from the start of service until 8:00 AM and from 2:30 PM to 5:30 PM.
- Genoa: The strike will run from 9:00 AM to 5:30 PM and from 8:30 PM until the end of service.
- Bologna: Disruptions are expected from 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM and from 7:30 PM until the end of service.
- Florence: The strike will be from 8:15 AM to 12:30 PM and from 2:30 PM until the end of service.
- Naples: Services will be affected from 9:30 AM to 5:00 PM and from 8:00 PM until the end of service. EAV personnel for Circumvesuviana will strike from 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM and from 7:30 PM until the end of service.
- Bari: Disruptions from 8:30 AM to 12:30 PM and from 3:30 PM until the end of service. Ferrovie Sud Est personnel will strike from 8:00 AM to 12:30 PM and from 3:30 PM until the end of service.
- Cagliari: The strike will be from 9:30 AM to 12:45 PM, from 2:45 PM to 6:30 PM, and from 8:30 PM until the end of service.
- Palermo: Services affected from 8:30 AM to 5:30 PM and from 8:30 PM until the end of service.
- Rome: ATAC personnel are exempt from the strike.
Highways, Logistics, and Ports Also Impacted
Highway and Anas road network staff will strike for 24 hours, with minimum safety services guaranteed. Workers in freight transport and logistics will also strike for 24 hours, ensuring essential goods and product transport. Railway contract workers (cleaning staff for trains, stations, offices, accessory services, catering, night train escorts) will also participate. School bus personnel will strike for the return service from school institutes only.
In ports, workers will stop for an entire daily shift, with essential minimum services guaranteed. In maritime transport, connections to major islands may experience 24-hour delays at ship departure (excluding essential lines and services). For minor island connections, the strike will last from 12:01 AM to 12:00 AM (excluding essential lines and services).
Taxi Services and Exemptions
Taxi services will observe a 24-hour strike, staggered within shifts, while ensuring minimum services. In addition to ATAC personnel in Rome, environmental hygiene services, Ministry of Justice personnel, and the entire air transport sector are exempt from the strike.
Reasons Behind the Strike
The strike has been called to challenge the budget bill, which Cgil believes will worsen living and working conditions for workers, pensioners, young people, and women. The union also demands a halt to rearmament and increased investments in healthcare, education, non-self-sufficiency, and housing and social policies. They advocate for a genuine tax reform that introduces progressive taxation on all incomes, targets wealth and tax evasion, stops generalized flat tax and amnesties, returns fiscal drag to workers and pensioners, and indexes IRPEF to inflation (brackets, deductions, supplementary treatment, etc.).
Furthermore, the strike aims to increase resources for public and private contract renewals, extend salary increase taxation to all workers, and implement a true pension reform that supersedes the Fornero law and introduces a safeguard pension for young and precarious workers. Cgil also calls for measures and direct investments to revive industrial and tertiary policies, combat delocalizations, create new jobs, and foster a real development strategy for the country and the South. The mobilization seeks to safeguard employment, support an extraordinary hiring plan in public administrations, combat precarious employment contracts, counter non-genuine contracts and cascading subcontracting, and invest in and protect health and safety at work.
Source: https://www.tgcom24.mediaset.it/cronaca/sciopero-12-dicembre-trasporti-scuola-sanita_106946559-202502k.shtml
