Italy’s largest trade union has held a national strike in protest against the government’s budget plans.

Tens of thousands of workers took to the streets as demonstrations and rallies supporting the strike took place from north to south.

The strike mainly hit railway transportation, with cancellations and delays registered for both long-distance and regional trains.

Public schools across the country canceled classes, forcing students to stay home because of a lack of local public transportation in many cities.

The protest, which targets the 2026 budget bill proposed by the conservative government of Premier Giorgia Meloni, comes just two weeks after another general strike organized by smaller trade unions, with the same motivations.

The Italian General Confederation of Labour (CGIL) union listed the reasons for the strike in a statement, including demands for greater investments in healthcare, education and housing rights, along with measures to tackle workplace safety.

Italy’s largest trade union confederation, CGIL believes that the plans would “worsen people’s living and working conditions and affect workers, pensioners, young people and women.”

CGIL Secretary-General Maurizio Landini, who led a rally in Florence, criticized the budget as “unfair, wrong and dangerous.” He said that the main social emergency is now represented by low wages, and that government measures don’t address that.

Giovanni Minnini, General Secretary of Flai CGIL, decried the budget law.

“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.”
Giovanni Minnini

He added that 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 polarization of wealth into the hands of a few.” He added, “This is a strike to support the 38 million Italians who are paying for austerity.”

Despite allocating new spending of €18 billion ($21.2 billion), CGIL argues that healthcare, schools, care for the elderly, affordable housing and local transport are not adequately prioritized in the budget.

According to media reports, the budget will be discussed in the Chamber of Deputies next week, and must be approved by both chambers of parliament by the end of the year.

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.

Italy’s National Strike Follows After One In Portugal

Italy’s national strike comes just a day after the one called by Portugal’s two main trade union confederations, which severely disrupted travel yesterday and forced the cancellation of many medical appointments and school classes.

The two labor groups representing close to a million Portuguese workers said that it could be the country’s biggest walkout in more than a decade as they contested the center-right government’s planned changes to employment laws.

When the protest in a Italy was announced last month, Meloni and Transport Minister Matteo Salvini mocked the union for organizing the strike as usual on a Friday, suggesting that it was an excuse for a long weekend.

They also defended the government’s budget bill, saying that it addresses the citizens’ needs for lower fiscal pressure and more financial help for families.