Over 70% of workers in the public and
private sectors participated in a general strike on Friday, said
the CGIL and UIL labour unions that organized the protest
against the 2025 budget.
The two unions said participation was "extremely high already
during the first work shifts: more than 70% of workers went on
strike across Italy" in a mobilization to increase salaries and
pensions, finance healthcare, education and public services and
invest in industrial policies.
CGIL, Italy's biggest and most leftwing union, and the third
biggest and former Socialist union, UIL, said some factories in
Italy ground to halt after all employees walked off the job,
including Heineken in Taranto, Sammontana in Florence, Citterio
in Parma, Lagostina in Novara and Dana in Reggio Emilia.
They said participation was extremely high in all sectors with
peaks of 85% at Ferrarelle in Valle Camonica; 80% at Siemens in
Trento and Leonardo in Pomigliano d'Arco; 98% at Lamborghini in
Bologna; 90% at Ikea in Genoa and Pirelli in Settimo Torinese
and 95% at Isab in Siracusa, among others.
Many schools remained closed across Italy.
A total of 43 demonstrations were organized in major cities with
over 50,000 taking part in a rally in Bologna attended by CGIL
leader Maurizio Landini and over 30,000 at the Naples protest
attended by UIL chief Pierpaolo Bombardieri.
Overall, more than half a million people took to the streets in
Italy to protest against the 2025 budget bill, Landini said.
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