ROME — Scores of trains were idled Tuesday in Italy as railway workers from a major union struck to protest the government’s planned labor reforms, a wire service reports.
The walkout, from 9 a.m to 1 p.m. (0700 gmt to 1100 gmt), forced the scrapping of some 30 percent of train runs scheduled for those hours, said a state railway spokesman, Marco Mancini .
The strike was called by the transport-sector of Italy’s largest labor confederation, CGIL, which has organized a series of strikes to protest reforms of the nation’s rigid labor laws.
The government wants to make it less difficult to fire new hires. CGIL says the proposals will threaten workers’ livelihoods and job security.
CGIL-affiliated unions have scheduled a four-hour long, walkout in urban public transportation for Thursday and one in air travel sectors for Friday.
Two other large union confederations came to an agreement with the government last week.