Unions Vow to Defy the Order Against Friday's Transport Strike

Italy's transport minister on Tuesday ordered transport workers not to join Friday's general strike, The Local reported, while walkouts in schools and hospitals were left to go ahead in dozens of towns and cities. The order was aimed at the transport sector alone; the rest of the day of action was not suspended. Unions answered that they would defy the ban, the outlet reported, without saying what form that defiance would take.

Italy regulates strikes in essential public services, and a ministerial order of this kind is normally issued through that machinery, obliging workers to report for duty; The Local does not name the instrument or set out what enforcement follows. The choice to carve transport out of the action, rather than call off the whole day, is the detail to watch. It turns a dispute about prices into a question of whether a ministry can decide who may stop work.

The Local describes Friday's stoppage as the country's second general strike this month, with rallies planned across Italian cities and events running into Saturday. The New York Times reported this week that the unrest is driven by rising prices and sinking hopes, and that it has drawn in students in the north and truckers in the south, inspired in part by French demonstrations. The same paper notes that the protests could affect national elections next year.