Italy’s biggest trade union, the CGIL, yesterday called for a general strike against the government’s new austerity plans.
Union chief Susanna Camusso, speaking in the daily La Repubblica newspaper, said the CGIL (Italian General Confederation of Labour) would hold a meeting on August 23 to fix a date for the strike.
“I can’t see any other way to oppose the iniquity of this austerity plan,” she added.
Italy’s Cabinet on Friday approved a €45.5 billion austerity package of spending cuts and tax hikes that Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said was due to pressure from Finland, Germany and The Netherlands.
The draft measures - which must still go before Parliament for final approval expected in early September – include a new tax on high earners and deep cuts to local government and Cabinet costs.
They seek to assuage jittery markets by returning Italy to a balanced budget in 2013 instead of 2014 as previously planned, and come on top of a €48-billion package agreed in July when Rome first came under pressure.
CGIL secretary general Ms Camusso said that after the extraordinary meeting of the union’s leader next week to fix a date for a general strike the proposal will go out to fellow unions to join the industrial action.
She warned that the government’s fiscal plans would hit economic growth.