‘Stability law’ provokes strikes in Italy

Italy’s three main union confederations, CGIL, CISL and UIL, organised a week of strikes last month against the government’s plans for a “stability law” which, in the view of the unions, will make austerity permanent.

The government’s declared aims are to reduce public spending and cut taxes, particularly the so-called tax wedge — the difference between what employers pay to employ an individual (including social insurance costs) and what the employee gets after tax.

However, the unions argue that the plan benefits the employers. Susanna Camusso, CGIL general secretary, wants “to shift the burden of taxation on to dividends and wealth and lift it from work and pensions”.

In addition, she is calling on the government to stop penalising public sector workers by blocking negotiations on a pay increase.

The four-hour strikes were organised on a regional basis and covered the whole country, from Basilicata in the south on 11 November to Lombardy and Piedmont in the north on 15 November.