ITALY held a nationwide general strike on Friday.
The powerful action was called by the country’s largest trade union, the CGIL.
Members of IUF affiliates Flai-CGIL and Filcams-CGIL will take part in the strike.
The core grievance is opposition to the Government’s 2026 budget plan, which trade union leaders argue is ‘unjust and damaging’ for workers, young people, pensioners and public services.
According to CGIL, the budget fails to address structural economic challenges such as low wages, precarious jobs, weak public services, and stagnant purchasing power.
Also, the measures do not sufficiently support workers or those most affected by inflation and economic insecurity.
The unions demand more substantial commitments to labour rights, wage increases and stronger social protections.
Although the focus is on the budget, the protest reflects broader social unease:
- Precarious employment and no job security.
- Inadequate wage growth relative to inflation.
- Underfunding of public services such as health, education and transport.
These issues have been a theme in recent strikes and union actions throughout 2025, as workers and activists push for more equitable economic policies.
Giovanni Minnini, General Secretary of Flai CGIL said: ‘We are faced with a budget law that is steering our country towards a war economy, without paying the slightest attention to the lives of citizens who have to work to make a living, without looking at inflation, which is eroding their spending power.
The budget does nothing for workers in the agri-food sector, for those who bring fruit and vegetables to our tables every day, just as it does nothing to stem the polarisation of wealth into the hands of a few.
‘This is a strike to support the 38 million Italians who are paying for austerity.’
Italy’s national strike comes just a day after the one called by Portugal’s two main trade union confederations.
Hundreds of flights and trains have been cancelled, schools closed and hospital operations postponed in cities across Portugal, as the two main union federations stage a general strike over unprecedented labour reforms.
Public transport was down to a minimum service in many areas, and unions said refuse collections were at a standstill as the strike took hold on Thursday.
The last time the CGTP and the UGT joined forces was during the eurozone debt crisis in 2013, when a ‘troika’ of international institutions demanded cuts in salaries and pensions as part of Portugal’s bailout.
Twelve years later, Portugal’s economy has become the fastest growing in the eurozone in recent months, but Prime Minister Luís Montenegro claimed it is still necessary to tackle ‘rigidities’ in the jobs market ‘so companies can be more profitable and workers have better salaries’ as a result.
Montenegro appears to have been taken aback by the strength of feeling by the working class against his minority right-of-centre government’s plans: One of his Social Democrat MPs is on the UGT executive and even he voted for a strike.
He made some very small concessions after calling the federation in for talks late last month, but it was clearly not enough.
Among the more than 100 proposals are:
- letting employers roll over temporary contracts for years on end
- lifting a ban on sacking workers then immediately rehiring them indirectly via outsourcing
- removing a requirement to reinstate employees who were unfairly dismissed.
It is Portuguese in their 20s who are likely to be most affected by the changes.
Meanwhile, police used tear gas to disperse protesting farmers on Friday as veterinarians moved in to cull over 200 cows infected with nodular dermatitis, or lumpy skin disease, at a farm in southern France.
The deadly outbreak, which cannot be passed to humans, has sparked fears among locals and highlighted tensions over the government’s handling of the crisis and farmers’ livelihoods.
Veterinarians arrived at a French farm on Friday under police escort to slaughter a herd of cows suffering from a potentially deadly disease, after police used tear gas to clear away angry protesters trying to protect the animals.
Farmers have staged protests across France in recent days, accusing the authorities of not doing enough to support them.
Hundreds of agricultural workers demonstrated for two days outside the farm in the southern area of Ariege near the Spanish border.
They set up a cordon around the farm after the authorities on Wednesday said that more than 200 Blonde d’Aquitaine cows at the farm had nodular dermatitis – widely known as lumpy skin disease – and would have to be euthanised.
Gendarmes used tear gas last Thursday to fight their way past dozens of farmers who stayed after nightfall to blockade the farm in the village of Les Bordes-sur-Arize, while protesters hurled stones, branches and other makeshift missiles as hay bales burnt in the background.
Elsewhere, the government of Bulgarian Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov resigned on Thursday after protesters took to the streets in cities across the country and filled the centre of the capital Sofia on Wednesday night.
Zhelyazkov’s dramatic move came ahead of a vote of no confidence in parliament, and 20 days before Bulgaria joins the euro.
Protesters had accused his minority centre-right government, in power since January, of widespread corruption. The government had already scrapped a controversial budget plan for next year in response to the demonstrations last week.
Zhelyazkov said: ‘We hear the voice of citizens protesting against the government.
‘Both young and old have raised their voices for (our resignation).
‘This civic energy must be supported and encouraged.’
A statement on the government website said ministers would continue in their roles until a new cabinet was elected.
Between 50,000 and 100,000 people turned out in Sofia’s central Triangle of Power and Independence Square on Wednesday evening calling for the government to go.
The words ‘Resignation’ and ‘Mafia Out’ were projected onto the parliament building.
They were backed last week by President Rumen Radev who had also called on the government to stand down.
Zhelyazkov’s government had already survived five votes of no confidence.
- Swiss Eurovision winner Nemo on Thursday said they were handing back their trophy in the latest protest about Israel’s continued participation in the contest over the war in Gaza.
Nemo, the singer who won the Eurovision Song Contest in 2024 with ‘The Code’ has returned the trophy because Israel has been allowed to take part in next year’s contest, Nemo won with a drum-and-bass, opera, rap and rock song, said Israel’s continued participation went against the contest’s ideals of inclusion and dignity for all people.
The comments are the latest protest against the European Broadcasting Union, the Eurovision Organiser that has seen five countries pull out after it cleared Israel last week to take part in next year’s event in Austria.
Nemo said: ‘Eurovision says it stands for unity, for inclusion, and dignity for all people.
‘And these are the values that make this contest so meaningful for me.
‘But Israel’s continued participation, during what the UN’s Independent International Commission of Inquiry (on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel) has concluded to be a genocide, shows there’s a clear conflict between those ideals and the decisions the EBU is making.’
Iceland will not take part in the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest, the country’s public broadcaster RUV said lastWednesday, joining Spain, the Netherlands, Ireland and Slovenia who have also pulled out, citing Israel’s conduct in the war in Gaza.
Nemo added that it was clear something was deeply wrong when countries pulled out of the contest, adding they would send their Eurovision trophy back to the EBU’s headquarters in Geneva.
Nemo concluded: ‘This is not about individuals or artists.
‘It’s about the fact that the contest was repeatedly used to soften the image of a state accused of severe wrongdoing, all while the EBU insists that this contest is non-political.
‘I’m waiting for the moment those words and actions align. Until then, this trophy is yours.’