Italian unions hail strike restrictions

The Italian parliament has passed a new law aimed at limiting the impact of strikes which affect the public. The legislation, which was adopted on 5 April, has been welcomed by the main trade union confederations in Italy but is opposed by smaller independent unions who have indicated that they will take strike action as before.

The law extends 1990 legislation on strikes in the public services, which has been largely ignored, to groups of self-employed workers, such as taxi drivers and lawyers, whose activities affect the public. It requires those organising disputes to take account of their impact on the public and introduces a new conciliation procedure to be gone through before strikes are declared. There should be a minimum 10-day notice period before a strike and at least a 10-day gap between strikes. The frequent practice of announcing strikes only to call them off at the last minute is also banned.

The legislation also requires that strikers should allow at least 50% of essential services to be provided.

A Guarantee Commission will assess whether the law has been breached, with both sides given 30 days to present their case. Where the Commission considers that strikes have been carried out in contravention of this law it can impose fines of between about £1,600 and £16,000.

Walter Cerfeda of Italy's largest union confederation, CGIL, describes the new law as "a good law" for three reasons. First, in effect it implements the agreement already reached between the unions, employers and government of December 1998 and so backs existing trade union positions. Secondly, it brings the self-employed within the scope of the regulations for the first time. And thirdly it replaces the previous sanctions, which were largely a dead letter, with an effective system of fines. "It will secure a better exercise of the right to strike in the public services," he said.

The smaller autonomous unions, which normally represent a specific group of workers and are strong in the public sector, take a very different view. They reject the law and have promised to continue to act as before.