Airport ground staff in Italy are preparing for a 24-hour national strike on Monday 12 September as trade unions Confederazione Unitaria di Base (CUB) and Unione Sindacale di Base (USB) demand better pay and working conditions for members.
The industrial action (called from 00.01 to 11.59pm) is expected to disrupt airport services and flight schedules, with airports in Venice, Treviso, Verona, Firenze and Pisa advising travellers to check online flight schedules for real-time updates and to contact airlines. Major international hubs in Milan and Rome have not yet released travel advisories.
While delays are expected, the strike is unlikely to have a crippling affect as Italian law mandates minimum levels of essential services during labour actions.
Both unions are fighting for pay increases to reflect the rising cost of living in Italy, and safer working conditions following increased “contagion risks” related to contact with travellers and “fatigue” due to understaffing.
CUB, whose members include ground handlers at Aviapartner and Dnata, is also demanding the renewal of national work contacts, where wages have remained unchanged since 2017.
“We have returned after the complicated pandemic period to the full-speed of airport and handling activities, with daily difficulties in managing work, increasingly exasperated shifts and ancillary activities to the increasingly complex traditional tasks,” the union said in a statement on Friday (9 September).
“But everything has a limit, no one speaks of the shameful delay in signing the renewal of the National Labour Contract. The staff at our airports in Italy work with minimum wage, with salaries inadequate to the cost of living aggravated by increasing energy costs caused by the ongoing war [in Ukraine].”
As well as advising members to walk off the job, CUB will also stage a demonstration at Milan Malpensa Cargo Airport on Monday.