ITALY: Italy's three biggest trades unions staged a nationwide strike yesterday to protest against the government's budget, their sixth general strike since Silvio Berlusconi was elected prime minister in 2001.
Factories, trains, banks and planes came to a standstill as demonstrators took to the streets in dozens of Italian cities to denounce spending cuts that unions believe will hobble public services and harm the fragile economy.
"This is a massive strike across all of Italy which shows that workers, pensioners and the young share our condemnation of both the budget and the government," Guglielmo Epifani, head of the CGIL union, said at a rally in central Rome.
The big three unions estimated that up to 90 per cent of their 12 million members took part.
Mr Berlusconi, who faces an election next April, dismissed the strike as a waste of time.
Civil servants, including postal workers and street cleaners, held an eight-hour stoppage while employees in the private sector downed tools for four hours.
Hospitals guaranteed only emergency services and public transport ground to a halt in many cities, leaving thousands of unwitting travellers stranded.
State-controlled airline Alitalia, which is battling to stave off bankruptcy, cancelled 230 flights, while foreign carriers also had to cancel or delay flights into Italy.
Musicians protesting about cuts to culture spending played Verdi's Requiem in cities across Italy last evening.
The government has announced €16.5 billion of deficit cuts to honour a commitment made to the EU to reduce its deficit next year to 3.8 per cent of gross domestic product.
The deficit, which according to EU treaties should stay below 3 per cent, is expected to hit 4.3 per cent of GDP in 2005.
"We cannot lift the deficit-GDP ratio to 20 per cent by accepting all the unions' spending demands," said labour minister Roberto Maroni.
- (Reuters)