guaranteed times and slots – WWN

The public transport strike on Friday 15 December has been reduced with an order from the Ministry of Transport. «Nine days before Christmas, blocking the country for 24 hours throughout Italy means chaos. We cannot leave 20 million Italians who use public transport stranded,” said Transport Minister Matteo Salvini. The day of abstention from work was proclaimed by the trade union organizations Usb Lavoro Privato, Al Cobas and Cub Trasporti e it will affect workers of the main public transport companies in the country for 4 hours (instead of 24). from Atm in Milan to Atac in Rome.

The guaranteed bands and the trains

In fact the protest was reduced to just four hours. The agitation of traveling and operating personnel of surface and underground lines will be possible from 9.00 to 13.00. The ordinance, it must be said, only reduces the national public transport strike, while it does not affect the 24-hour strikes called locally as in the case of BusItalia staff in Umbria (here is the list of confirmed strikes). Please also remember that it was announced a rail transport strike in Lombardy from 09:01 to 16:59 on 14 December 2023 which also involves Trenord. Trains will arrive at the end of the journey “with departure scheduled from the official timetable by 09:01 am and arriving at the final destination by 10:01 am”.

Some trains could then be affected by delays on December 15th between 9am and 1pm. Trenitalia informs that: «From 00:00 to 23:59 on Friday 15 December 2023 a national strike for local public transport will be called SAD and Trentino Trasporti staff joined. SAD trains on the Bolzano-Trento, Bolzano-Merano, Brennero-Bolzano-Merano and Bolzano-Fortezza-San Candido lines, and Trentino Trasporti trains on the Trento – Bassano del Grappa line may be subject to variations” (full information here).

USB will disobey the precept

There is a however. The basic trade union union USB, at the end of the discussion at the ministry, announced that it will disobey, striking for 24 hours. The choice explains the acronym «it is a political act of the trade union organization», considered «necessary to try to stop the now evident attack on the right to strike» however the disobedience will not involve the workers, who would risk fines of up to 1000 euros. Usb communicates this in a note where it explains that «for failure to comply with the authorities’ order, article 9 of law 146/90 provides for an administrative sanction for trade union organizations from 2,500 to 50,000 euros per day which is decided by the ministry» . The fine “will finally allow us to challenge the minister’s decisions before an ordinary court”, we read in a note. Usb Lavoro Privato informs that it is currently filing an emergency appeal with the TAR to request the suspension of the ordinance, which however is not guaranteed to happen before December 15th. In any case, the union will participate in the national demonstration in Rome which will be held starting from 5pm starting from Piazzale Aldo Moro.

The tug of war between unions and government

In parallel, the battle began between CGIL, UIL and the government against the cut from 24 to 4 hours of the general strike proclaimed against the local public transport maneuver last 17 November. The appeal challenging the government provision has been filed with the TAR of Lazio: a very long tug-of-war is looming with the first hearing in May 2024. The appeal, the unions explain, essentially hinges on the “unreasonableness” of the injunction, on those reasons that Salvini had cited for the injunction and listed “in black and white” in the order which however would have been valid only in the event of a general strike that had caused “serious and imminent damage to the constitutional rights of users”. Prejudices for CGIL-UIL are “non-existent” considering that the 24-hour stop in local public transport provided, in compliance with the law, the respect of guarantee bands with which to protect citizens. The unions therefore speak of “excess” by the Ministry. Lastly, the ‘consideration’ expressed by Salvini in the document regarding the ‘broad representativeness of the unions which could therefore have led to a high level of participation in the strike’ was unacceptable for Cgil-Uil. An appeal, the one against the strike of 17 November, which adds to the appeal by Filt Cgil-e Uiltrasporti for the first injunction last September.

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