Pensions strike paralyses Italy

Commuters waited in vain for buses, factory workers
stayed off assembly lines and teachers stayed out of
classrooms during a general strike in Italy today.

The strike was over the Italian government’s pension
reform plan that would force people to work longer
before they can retire.

The nation’s three main labour confederations had called
a four-hour strike in most of Italy, but unions in the
area around Rome and in Sicily lengthened it to eight
hours.

Bus, tram and subway services in major cities virtually
stopped. In Rome, before the strike began, many buses
were half-empty as thousands of students, public
employees and other workers stayed at home.

Banks warned customers earlier in the week that they
might not be able to guarantee service.

The Italian treasury put off an auction of short-term
treasury bills to Monday next week "to avoid any
malfunction of the auction system which could negatively
affect prices, ultimately damaging investors".

A similar one-day general strike in October over the
reforms almost paralysed the nation.

The Italian news agency ANSA quoted Fiat offices in
Turin as saying some 18.5% of its work force stayed away
at its various plants, while union officials were
claiming at least 60% adherence.

The state railways said that 59% of medium and long-
distance trains ran on schedule during the four-hour
morning strike. Air travellers, however, were spared -
for now - when airline unions put off the strike to
April 5.

The conservative government of the prime minister,
Silvio Berlusconi, has already watered down the pension
reform bill to try to appease the unions while still
aiming to save more than £6bn a year.

The pension system - with many workers in past decades
retiring in their early 50s - is a huge drain on state
coffers, making Italy one of the most indebted countries
in Europe.

Union leaders say the government only wants to save on
pensions so it can reduce taxes to boost its chances at
the polls.

"To raise the pension age is an absolutely unacceptable
thing," said Armando Cossutta, a Communist party leader
who joined a protest march and rally in Rome. "The cost
of living has gone up and jobs are at risk. We need a
different economic policy."

The government has said it is willing to talk to the
unions about the reforms if they can come up with a
promising plan.

Public exasperation seemed directed at both politicians
and unionists.

"I paid for my monthly ticket, and now, here I am,
waiting for a bus that probably won’t come," said
Pasqualino Jagone, a 70-year-old retired cafe worker as
he sat on a window ledge in Piazza Venezia, the heart of
Rome.

"But the pension conditions are equally disgusting. I
worked for 35 years, and I have a monthly pension of
about 400 euros (£260) which loses value every day. And
now the government wants people to work even more years
for the right to these insulting pensions?"

http://www.guardian.co.uk/italy/story/0,12576,1178869,00.html