ITALY: Transport workers strike in Rome, unions demonstrate against new budget law

Record ID: 341222

  • Title: ITALY: Transport workers strike in Rome, unions demonstrate against new budget law
  • Date: 13th November 2013
  • Summary: ROME, ITALY (NOVEMBER 13, 2013) (REUTERS) BUS STOPS NEAR ROME'S CENTRAL TERMINI STATION VARIOUS OF PEOPLE WALKING UP THE STAIRS OUT OF THE METRO STATION VARIOUS OF EMPTY BUSES DRIVING PAST (SOUNDBITE) (Italian) UNIDENTIFIED ROME RESIDENT, SAYING: ''We are in Italy, after all, it happens all the time." REPORTERS ASKS: ''IS THIS CAUSING YOU PROBLEMS?'' "Of course.'' BUS WIT
  • Embargoed: 28th November 2013 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Italy
  • Country: Italy
  • Topics: Economy,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA67CDD8GDLQSQRRO02ZA1RBK71
  • Story Text: Transport workers went on a four-hour strike in Rome on Wednesday (November 13) called by the country's three largest trade unions as part a series of protests against Italy's 2014 budget law.
    Commuters, trying to catch the last running buses near Rome's main train stations, appeared divided over the workers' protest.
    ''We are in Italy, after all, it happens all the time," said a man who did not want to be named as he was trying to reach work.
    ''What do I think? If it [the strike] is a just thing to do, so be it," said pensioner Marco Capocci.
    "But this is a time that many cannot afford a car, or their own means of transport'' said Sandra Teggi, a young Roman woman trying to reach the city centre for a job interview.
    As commuters struggled, some 1,000 protesters from Italy's main trade unions gathered in the city centre on Wednesday morning to hold a colourful march protesting against a budget law which they say does too little to reduce taxes and reverse years of austerity.
    ''We are here because the budget law does not let us to tackle the real problems of this country. We think it must be changed substantially, mostly in its aspects that have to do with labour and unemployment," said Giuseppe Mandato, from the CISL trade union.
    Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta's 2014 budget, unveiled last October, has become a focal point of discontent, with unions complaining about freezes on public sector salaries and what they say is an insufficient easing of the tax burden on workers. Youth unemployment is at an all time high at 40.1 percent.
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