A nationwide strike in Italy on Friday disrupted air traffic, public transport, schools and hospitals, in a protest by two of the country’s largest unions against Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government budget plans.CGIL, Italy’s biggest union, said that it was opposing planned cuts in spending on social security, public services and investments, while the UIL union demanded measures on health and safety following a series of workplace accidents.“It is time to turn this country upside down, because injustices have reached a level that is no longer tolerable,” Maurizio Landini, who leads the left-leaning CGIL, said during a rally in Bologna.CGIL and UIL said in a joint statement that more than 70% of workers participated in their strike, and thousands of people took part in 43 separate rallies held across the country against government policies.“Squares as full (as this) show that we are on the right track,” Landini said.The protest was not supported by a third large union, the centrist CISL, but nevertheless represented a challenge for Meloni, who faces backlash over efforts to tighten spending in order to bring Italy’s finances into line with EU rules.Italy, like France, has been singled out by the European Union for its huge deficit.It is under intense pressure to balance the books and slash its huge public debt, which is currently hovering at around €3tn ($3.2tn).Italian media reported some clashes between police and demonstrators in the northern city of Turin, where groups of students and activists occupied the tracks of one of the city’s main train stations.Despite strained public finances, the government last month approved a budget with around €24bn ($25.3bn) of tax cuts and increased spending, reducing income tax and social contributions for middle- and low-income earners.Although the strike was initially scheduled to last a full day, Transport Minister Matteo Salvini this week signed an injunction limiting the stoppage to four hours only for the transport sector, in order to limit disruption.The national airline ITA cancelled 109 flights on Friday, including 18 international ones, while Ryanair cancelled “a small number of flights”.Train transport was not affected as rail workers downed tools at the weekend and Italian law prevents them striking again for at least 12 days.
