Italy Orders Transport Workers to Skip the Strike; the Unions Refuse

Italy's transport minister ordered transport workers on Tuesday not to join Friday's general strike, according to The Local Italy, and the unions answered by saying they would defy the order. Walkouts in schools and hospitals are still set to go ahead in dozens of towns and cities, the outlet reported. It is the second general strike Italy has faced this month.

The order is the more unusual element. A national stoppage had already been called; the minister's intervention seeks to remove one sector from it, and the unions' public refusal leaves the two positions in direct conflict with the strike date unchanged. The Local's account does not say what instrument the minister used, whether minimum-service obligations were invoked, or what consequence, if any, defiance would carry.

The context the same outlet supplied earlier in the week is economic. Previewing the stoppage on Monday, The Local wrote that rallies were planned across Italian cities on Friday during the country's second general strike of the month, as unrest over the cost-of-living crisis looked set to continue. Its Monday news roundup reported that police had arrested nine people at protests and that the energy company Eni would extend a fuel price cap as its profits swelled.