Renzi’s government is looking to rely on a majority in parliament in a bid in September 2015 to ‘reform’ the right to strike. Two legal drafts will cover conditions over calling for strike action in the transport as well as rates of representativeness in unions. If unions don’t represent more than 50% of workers, then they can only call for social action if they obtain a workers’ majority agreement in a compulsory referendum. The goal here is to stave off conflictual independent unions as well as broadening the implementation of the new rules to all essential services.
Prime Minister Matteo Renzi set the tone when he condemned both the Alitalia pilot strike (60 flights were cancelled) on 24 July as well as striking workers at the archeological site of Pompei that left tourists stranded during the heat wave. He called the unions’ actions “scandalous” and warned that “if this were to continue unions would have to defend themselves”. The following day in an interview published in the daily Corriere della Sera, the Transport Minister, Graziano Delrio called the union action “an act of sabotage” and declared the government ready to review the right to strike in the area of essential public services.
Do you have information to share with us?