Italian union threatens general strike
CIGA Eric

Follow the demonstrations, strikes, and riots across the globe as country after country adopts attempts to adopt austerity and tax programs to close their budget gaps. This solution is similar to replacing fire trucks with squirt guns as a cost-saving measure to battle fires. While the move will save money, it is also certain to slowly burn down the city.

Headline: Italian union threatens general strike

The head of Italy’s biggest union is warning of a general strike to protest austerity measures pushed through by Premier Silvio Berlusconi’s government, according to reports published Sunday.

Susanna Camusso, leader of the CGIL labor union, told the La Repubblica newspaper that union officials would meet Aug. 23 to schedule a strike date, the Associated Press reported.

A work stoppage would be one way to “change the inequity of this package,” the AP quoted Camusso as saying.

The strike threat follows the passage Friday of a $64.8 billion package of spending cuts and tax increases intended to balance Italy’s budget by 2013.

Critics of the measures, which came in response to demands by the European Central Bank, say they would unfairly burden the middle class and do nothing about Italy’s trouble with large-scale tax evasion.

Source: marketwatch.com ^[1]

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