Tens of thousands strike across Italy over "unfair" budget

Italy’s largest trade union, CGIL, called a nationwide strike on December 12 in protest against the government’s proposed 2026 budget, causing widespread disruption to transportation, healthcare, and school services across the country.

The strike targets the budget bill proposed by the conservative government of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and comes just two weeks after another general strike organized by smaller unions with similar demands, Caliber.Az reports, citing foreign media.

Rail services were particularly affected, with both long-distance and regional trains facing cancellations and delays. Public schools across the country also canceled classes, leaving many students homebound due to limited local transport.

In a statement, CGIL outlined the strike’s objectives, including greater investment in healthcare, education, and housing, as well as measures to improve workplace safety. CGIL Secretary-General Maurizio Landini, who led a rally in Florence in the morning of December 12, criticized the budget as “unfair, wrong and dangerous,” adding that “the main social emergency is now represented by low wages,” and that government measures fail to address the issue.

Tens of thousands of workers participated in demonstrations and rallies from the north to the south of Italy, underscoring the scale of the protest.

When the strike was announced last month, Prime Minister Meloni and Transport Minister Matteo Salvini mocked the union for scheduling the protest on December 12, suggesting it was merely an excuse for a long weekend. They defended the government’s budget, asserting that it responds to citizens’ needs for lower fiscal pressure and increased financial support for families.

Italy’s strike follows a similar action in Portugal just a day earlier, when the country’s two main trade union confederations staged a walkout that disrupted travel and forced the cancellation of medical appointments and school classes. Representing nearly a million workers, Portuguese unions described the strike as potentially the largest in over a decade, protesting the center-right government’s planned changes to employment laws.

By Vafa Guliyeva