General transport strike ordered to be requisitioned, railway mobilization postponed

The Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport has announced the requisition order for the general strike in the transport sector called by the Usb union for 29 and 30 October. The decision follows the requisition ordinance signed by the ministry on Tuesday, and has an immediate effect on the mobilization: the railway strike, initially scheduled from 9 p.m. on Thursday 29 October to 8:59 p.m. on Friday 30, has officially been postponed to a date yet to be set.

This is a story that the morning edition had not yet reported, developing in the hours following the publication of the 6:30 a.m. edition: the ministry’s ordinance effectively stopped in its tracks a mobilization that would have affected the entire transport sector tomorrow.

Gruppo FS and Trenord have confirmed that rail traffic will run regularly from 9 p.m. on Thursday 29 to 9 p.m. on Friday 30 October, the time window originally covered by the union’s call to action. The two companies have given no indication of any alternative mobilizations or of a new date for the postponed strike.

The requisition mechanism, which the ministry used to suspend the union action, applies to a protest that concerned the entire transport sector and not just the railway segment: according to reports, the wording of the ordinance covers Usb’s overall call to action for both days, 29 and 30 October.

It remains to be seen what the union’s next move will be, as no new date for the postponed mobilization has yet been announced. For commuters and those who had planned trips based on information released in recent days, the practical effect of the ministerial decision is the guarantee of regular service during the time window running from this evening until tomorrow night.