Italy
The FP-CGIL public service union federation has rejected government claims about low levels of support for its national strike on 12 December. The union released its own figures indicating the proportion of workers backing the strike across the different services in different regions.
Read more at > FP-CGIL (IT)
The Italian unions organizing in the waste sector achieved a major success in their protest against the reforms of the government in the waste sector, 18 November 2009. With total or near stoppages of work in all regions, the unions are giving a strong signal to the government that the restructuring and privatization of the waste sector and companies does not have the support of workers. Unions are concerned about the impact on pay and conditions as well as quality of service if private companies took control of a larger share of the sector. [Read more at > FP-CGIL (IT)->http://www.fpcgil.it
The public sector union federations FP-CGIL, CISL-FP, UIL-FPA and UIL-PA organized joint strike action on 19 December in protest at the latest austerity measures. The federations were very pleased at the level of support, taking account of the fact that they had only week to organize the action. They are calling for negotiations with the unions over national and decentralized bargaining as well as issue such as threat to privatize local services. [Read more at > FP-CGIL (IT)->http://www.fpcgil.it/flex/cm/pages/ServeBLOB.php/L/IT/IDPagina/20732] [And at > CISL-FP (IT)->http://www.fp.cisl.it
The STAL local government union believes that the public sector pay freeze and other attacks on local government meant a high level of support for its one-day strike on 20 September. The union says that workers supported the strike even in areas where it is not so strong. The strike was in protest at government policies but in particular in its attempts to undermine collective bargaining in local government and to impose new working time regulations. Read more at > STAL (PT)
