The unions Cgil and Uil, two of the three largest in Italy, announced a general strike for today, against the draft budget of the Meloni government and with a request for an increase in wages and social rights.

The strike will last eight hours in all major areas of public administration, from schools to hospitals and post offices. The only exception, the public transport sector: after the decision of the Minister of Transport and Infrastructure, Matteo Salvini, to sign a political mobilization of the workers, the unions reduced the duration of the mobilization on metros, buses and ferry connections, from the eight hours they had originally scheduled at four o’clock. Only aviation and the Fire Service are exempt from today’s strike.

In central Italy, too, today’s strike action also concerns the private sector, with the main emphasis on trade and construction.

A new eight-hour strike has been announced for the 20th of the month on the island of Sicily, on November 27 in Sardinia, while on November 24 the members of the Cgil and Uil unions working in the regions of northern Italy will go on strike and on December 1 the workers of the Italian South. In total, these are five eight-hour demonstrations, with gatherings in fifty-eight squares in Italy.

Finally, the Cisl trade union, although it calls for a large part of the draft state budget to be changed, considers it wrong to resort to a general strike and, for this reason, does not participate in the mobilizations.