No one is questioning the right to strike - Calderone

(ANSA) - ROME, NOV 16 - No-one is challenging the right to strike, Labour Minister Marina Elvira Calderone said on Thursday morning after trade unions reacted angrily on Wednesday to an injunction issued by Deputy Premier and Transport Minister Matteo Salvini limiting the one-day general strike they have called for Friday, affecting the transport sector in particular, to four hours.
    "The right to strike is fundamental and must absolutely be reaffirmed and confirmed, no one has called it into question," said Calderone.
    "In the sphere of essential services it is necessary to respect rules that serve to protect the rights of citizens" such as "mobility", she added.
    "Injunctions have been issued on many other occasions, they are not unheard of," concluded the minister.
    Italy's UIL and CGIL trade unions have called a general strike on Friday in protest against the 2024 budget bill, which is currently before parliament.
    However, earlier this week the country's strike watchdog said the stoppage did not meet the requirements for a general strike and ruled that it should be rescheduled - a decision that the unions rejected.
    On Wednesday UIL General Secretary Pierpaolo Bombardieri described the injunction as an "act of institutional squadrismo" (fascist thuggery) and said they would respond "with a big demonstration" in Rome's Piazza del Popolo.
    CGIL leader Maurizio Landini subsequently announced that the transport sector strike would last for just four hours, from nine in the morning to one in the afternoon, instead of eight hours, as a sign of responsibility towards workers who might be sanctioned for arriving at work late.
    Salvini said he was satisfied with the reduction and that "good sense has prevailed".
    Premier Giorgia Meloni said the injunction had been "shared" by the rest of the government and that it had no intention of limiting the right to strike. (ANSA).