Hundreds of thousands of Italians took to the streets in a nationwide general strike yesterday to protest against a government austerity budget they say bleeds workers but spares the rich.
The strike was to affect everything from transport to theaters and farms to factories. Even burials were to be delayed at public cemeteries as marchers hope to send a strong message of disapproval to Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.
The country’s largest union, the left-leaning CGIL, called the strike to demand the government rewrite the budget to redistribute the cuts more equitably.
“We realize Italy needs to cut the deficit, but the government’s budget is unjust and depressive,” said Susanna Camusso, the deputy leader of CGIL, which has about 6 million members.
“For two years, instead of putting a plan into action, the government denied a crisis even existed,” she said.
Demonstrations against the government measures were to be held in nearly every major Italian city
After months of telling Italians they were immune to a Greek-style debt crisis, Berlusconi’s cabinet last month approved a 25 billion euro (US$31 billion) austerity plan.
The plan includes cuts to funds for municipalities and freezing of public sector salaries.
The Italian Treasury said this week that it expected the plans to reduce GDP growth by 0.1 percentage points this year and by 0.2 points next year and in 2012.
While most private sector workers will strike for four hours, public sector members of the union will stay off the job all day to underscore their anger.
Polls say a majority of Italians believe the cuts are unfairly distributed and the government’s promise of salary reductions for parliamentarians has not changed this view.
The strike has split Italy’s trade union movement, which is roughly divided along political lines. The other two main unions have asked their members to stay on the job.
But it is not only salaried workers who are heaping pressure on the government.
Mayors from around Italy placed hangman’s nooses around their necks at a Rome demonstration this week, saying the cuts would kill local finances to the point of denying a minimum of social assistance to children, the elderly and the disabled.
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