General strike of the grassroots unions in Italy [EN]

Our sister union Unione Sindacale Italiana (USI) and other grassroots unions (SI COBAS, CUB, USB) in Italy organized a 24-hour nationwide general strike in the private and public sectors on 11/10/2021.

Joint strike by grassroots unions on October 11

Blockade of major cities, highways and major airports by at least one million workers

A great day of struggle and mobilisation throughout the country today! The general strike called by the grassroots unions was a great success, with tens of thousands of workers taking part in the demonstrations.The strike was called: against the policies of the Draghi government, against redundancies, for a freeze on evictions, for safety at work, for real wage increases, against job insecurity, against the oppressive use of the green pass.

The unity of the struggle represents the added value that has given great strength to the mobilisation and has facilitated the adhesion to it of a large number of political and social realities, spurring everyone to continue on this path.

Protests and demonstrations in all the main Italian cities.

Processions with thousands of workers went through the cities paralysing the traffic for many hours. Strikes on public transport affected all the main cities Milan Turin Rome Venice Florence Naples Catania Palermo Bologna. Air transport was blocked in particular in the main airports Milan Rome Venice Catania Bologna. Alitalia cancelled 200 flights. In Milan, the demonstration started in front of the Confindustria (Confederation of Italian Industry) to underline its anti-grassroots and anti-worker role and ended in front of the prefecture where a meeting with government representatives was held, as in many other cities. In Venice, local transport and many ferries were blocked.

This day of struggle represents the birth of a social opposition capable of taking to the streets and breaking the idyll between the bosses and the Draghi government supported by the big newspapers and the chorus of the parties.

Source: http://www.laboursolidarity.org

During the general strike in Italy on 11.10.21 about 1000 workers blocked the Amazon warehouse in Piacenza: "Italian general strike: Amazon warehouse blockaded in Piacenza, strikers attacked in Prato". Report from 12.10.21 at libcom with some videos

Thread by henning rosenbusch from 12.10.21 with video

"#Italy: dock workers and truck drivers blockade the port of Genoa Voltri. They protest against the adoption of the health pass and the increase of unpaid driving hours. The A10 highway toll booth is closed..."

USI strike call

All the grassroots unions in Italy are united against redundancies and social carnage and are calling a 24 hours-long nationwide general strike in the private and public sectors on 18/10/2021. The redundancies at the companies Ginetti Gomme, GKN and Whirpool come at the same time as thousands more workers are fired in smaller companies that haven’t made it to the headlines.
Altogether, more than 900,000 workers have lost their jobs in recent months. This is happening with the complicity of the mainstream unions CGIL-CISL-UIL and is inextricably linked to the capitalist restructuring plans put in place by the bosses through the directives of the Draghi government and the European Union.
The Covid-19 pandemic has had a devastating social impact on health and on living, working and wage conditions, that is still ongoing. Regardless, this has not prevented the bosses from increasing exploitation in the private and public sectors: production rates and controls in factories have increased while the most savage forms of precariousness are becoming common place. Companies are using the excuse of a downturn, that quite often is only seemingly real for them, to raise the spectre of mass layoffs. Their true goal is to outsource production and/or replace a workforce whose labour conditions are guaranteed with over-exploited and under-paid youngsters.
The pandemic has dramatically exposed the collapse of the health system caused by a decades-long policy of cuts and privatisations, as well as the destruction of social services (education, transport, childcare, etc.). The Draghi government, far from reversing this trend, is accelerating it, as demonstrated by its deregulation of the outsourcing of services and its use of the EU PNRR recovery funds. Most of these are being handed out to bosses and speculators, themselves the main culprits of the economic crisis and the health and social disaster that we have witnessed over this year and a half of the pandemic.
State repression of strikes and social struggles has increased intolerably, with police attacks and brutality, fines and arrests. This has actually served as a green light for company thugs to act against workers and union activists. There have been many such instances of violent attacks in recent weeks, culminating in the murder of unionist Adil Belakhdim.
Faced with this scenario, there is an urgent need for a decisive, united and coordinated response on a national scale. For this reason, grassroot unions are calling a day-long general strike in the private and public sectors on 18 October 2021.
From now on until that day, we will work towards building a real and permanent state of agitation, with assemblies and actions in the workplace and on the territory. We aim to mobilise all those movements and social sectors that are opposed to the plans of super-exploitation, precariousness, unemployment, social and environmental devastation that the bosses are dictating, nationally and internationally. For this reason, we state our commitment to build-up a protest movement towards the end of October against the G-20 meeting in Rome.