Millions take to streets in Italian general strike

Millions of Italians staged a general strike yesterday to protest against government labour reforms, filling city centres with carnival-like demonstrations that brought much of the country to a standstill.

Air and rail transport ground to a virtual halt, schools, banks and post offices closed, and production lines at top firms stood idle in Italy`s first full-day work stoppage for 20 years.

Delighted union leaders said Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi would have to back down in the face of people power and drop controversial plans to make it easier for companies to fire staff in certain circumstances.

A conciliatory-sounding Berlusconi told reporters he wanted to resume stalled negotiations with the unions, although he insisted that some sort of labour reform was needed.

"The government wants dialogue but reforms are necessary. There is a lot of good will. Many things are on the table and there are various possibilities for discussion," the prime minister told a news conference.

Italy`s three biggest unions estimated that as many as 13 million people heeded yesterday`s strike call out of a total workforce of 21 million. They said at least two million had taken part in protest rallies up and down the country.

Independent observers said they thought the number of strikers was closer to six million.

"This is an extraordinary day," Sergio Cofferati, the leader of Italy`s largest union, CGIL, told a demonstration in Florence. "Government and business will realise that we won`t stop until we have reached our objectives."

The strike was aimed at a small part of Berlusconi`s planned labour reform - an adjustment to Article 18 of Italy`s labour code, which forces companies to reinstate anyone sacked without "just cause".

Italian companies find it almost impossible to lay off staff without entering into complex negotiations with unions, creating a "jobs for life" mentality that the government says is stifling the labour market and hindering industrial development.

Most economists say the proposed changes are mild, and that Italy must go much further to make the job market more flexible. But unions say Article 18 is the cornerstone of workers` rights, and that the planned changes are the thin end of the wedge.

Relations between unions and the government broke down last month after extremist left-wing guerrillas shot dead Marco Biagi - one of the architects of the contested labour reforms.

When some ministers linked the unions to the murder, outraged labour leaders slammed the door on negotiations and called yesterday`s strike.

Railway stations were deserted from early morning, with only unsuspecting foreigners turning up in the hope of catching a train. "See you tomorrow," one ticket seller told a disappointed Spanish tourist at Rome`s central station.

Air and rail traffic gradually returned to normal late yesterday as staggered eight-hour stoppages by pilots, drivers and air traffic controllers drew to an end.

Bathed in spring sunshine, flag-waving strikers filled squares around the country, chanting anti-government slogans and blowing whistles.

"We are protesting against the government with an eye to the future," said 18-year-old Martina Rafanelli, waving a huge red CGIL flag in Florence. "There is a risk that we will have to put up with laws much worse than Article 18."

Big companies were hit hard. Italy`s second largest union, the CISL, said some 90 per cent of its members at car maker Fiat SpA had joined the strike and 85 percent of members at cable and tyre firm Pirelli SpA.

Analysts said they expected an eventual compromise deal and in a conciliatory move the Labour Ministry said in a statement late yesterday that it would wait for unions and bosses to come up with a set of new proposals before resuming negotiations.

Newspapers had previously indicated that the government would try to split the unions immediately after the strike with a peace deal aimed at more moderate labour groups.