Thousands of Sardinian workers took strike action Friday and were joined by students, pensioners and other citizens in a demonstration in the town of Sassari in protest at job losses and factory closures.
Participating in the strike called by CGIL, CISL and UIL trade unions were workers from Alcoa aluminium smelter, Italcementi cement producer and chemical company Vinyls, firms that are laying off employees or face closure.
Six hundred companies have closed on the island since 2009 with some 7,500 jobs lost in construction alone. In all, some 12,000 posts been axed on the poor Italian island in the past two years and another 6,000 people have been temporarily laid off.
Public spending limits imposed on Italy’s local and regional governments are adding to the depressing economic climate caused by banks starving businesses of credit and governments pursuing austerity measures – including deep cuts to the living standards of millions – across Europe.
On Saturday, a major protest against the Government of unelected premier and former Goldman Sachs advisor Mario Monti, is planned in Rome. It is dubbed ‘No Monti Day.’
Video (in Italian)
Sources: La Nuova Sardegna Unione Sarda
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