Italy
Health workers action
Medical, veterinary, health and administrative workers are planning a sit-in at the Ministry of Health on 4 October and a 24-hour strike on 17 October in protest at the failure to implement their four-year general collective agreement from 2001. The unions are still waiting for this agreement to take effect so that they can begin to negotiate the pay agreement for the years 2004-2005.
Read more at > FP-CGIL
Trade unions representing workers in the electricity, gas and water sectors organised a day of strike action on 17 December. The unions are concerned that changes to procurement rules will lead to more outsourcing and so threaten jobs, pay and conditions and the quality of services. Meanwhile, unions organising in the private health sector began a series of regional actions with a strike in Lazio on 14 December as part of a campaign to secure a new sector agreement covering 150000 workers. It is 12 years since the last agreement was negotiated.
Health worker unions report massive support for the second round of strike action and working-to-rule in support of their pay claim. As with the first action in October, some unions took four hours of strike action on 24 November and were then joined by more unions supporting a work-to-rule. Unions involved in the action included the nurses and general health workers organised by unions like Unison, GMB and Unite as well as specialist unions representing midwives, radiographers, dieticians, consultants, managers and those working in prison psychiatric services. [Read more at > Unison->http:/
Public sector health workers in Italy are still trying to get their collective agreement renewed 25 months after it expired. A planned sit-in outside the Ministry of Health has been called off in the light of further negotiations but if progress is not made then a 24-hour strike is planned for 13 February and a 48-hour strike on 27-28 February. Read more at > CGIL
