A street stands empty in Venice on March 9, 2020. Italian unions are in disagreement with the government over which sectors qualify as "essential" when it comes to working during the COVID-19 outbreak | Marco Di Lauro/Getty Images Italy’s unions threaten general strike over ‘war economy’ decree Unions argue the government makes it too easy to define some workers’ roles as essential, when they could be exempted from shifts.

Italy is on the verge of a general strike after the country's three main unions on Monday disagreed with the government's definition of "essential" activities that would be allowed to continue working through the coronavirus crisis.

The pandemic and the response from European governments has exposed a sharp rift between white and blue-collar workers. While many office jobs can be performed at home with a laptop, many vital employees like supermarket cashiers or workers at water utilities have no choice about where they carry out their shifts.

The Italian government on Sunday adopted a decree restricting economic activities to a list of "essential" sectors, coming into effect Wednesday.

“With the latest measures we have decided to slow down the country's engine without completely stopping it,” said Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte in an interview with La Stampa, a newspaper.

But according to trade unions, the government’s decree “provides a very substantial list of additional industrial and commercial activities, most of which we believe don’t meet the indispensability or essentiality criteria,” the country’s three main trade unions — Cgil, Cisl and Uil — wrote. For example, the list contains manufacturing of tobacco processing machinery.

The Italian government was able to stem a wave of wildcat strikes earlier this month by negotiating a safety protocol between trade unions and employers’ organizations.

The unions requested an urgent meeting with Economy Minister Roberto Gualtieri and Economic Development Minister Stefano Patuanelli.

Maurizio Landini, secretary-general of Fiom-Cgil, told Radio Capital on Monday that “nonessential activities endanger the lives of those who work and citizens. For this reason, with Cisl and Uil we have declared that we are ready for the general strike.”

The decree allows economic activities that are “functional” to the execution of essential ones listed in the decree, provided they self-certify themselves by writing to the local police chief. Unless they’re told otherwise, they can continue operating.

Activities for which shutting down could mean a “serious damage to the plant itself or a danger of accidents” are also allowed to keep operating with the same self-certifying process of writing to the local police chief.

On the other hand, Vincenzo Boccia, president of Confindustria — the Italian business federation — said the decree would bring Italy into “war economy” mode, by shutting down about 70 percent of economic activities, resulting in a loss of €100 billion turnover per month, or 5 percent of national economic output.

“It doesn’t mean that the economy must prevail over health, but we must take care, and worry about how to get out of this critical situation in order to avoid many companies, if not all of them, due to the liquidity crisis ... obviously not being able to reopen anymore,” he told the same radio station. A letter written by Boccia to Conte, reported by Italian daily La Repubblica, included many of the points in the government’s decree — which angered trade unions accusing the government of prioritizing business over workers' health.

The Italian government was able to stem a wave of wildcat strikes earlier this month by negotiating a safety protocol — requiring employers to guarantee social distancing and protective equipment for workers — between trade unions and employers’ organizations.

In Spain, coronavirus worries initially led workers to declare wildcat strikes in some car factories. Last week, workers at a Mercedes-Benz plant in Vitoria-Gasteiz forced its closure, laying down their tools and refusing to continue working so close to one another.

Overall, however, workers have backed government appeals in favor of national unity and called off strikes scheduled for this month, and on Monday Airbus partially reopened production lines in the country in order to continue supplying Spanish Air Force planes and helicopters participating in a mission meant to stop the spread of the pandemic.

Aitor Hernandez contributed reporting.

Want more analysis from POLITICO? POLITICO Pro is our premium intelligence service for professionals. From financial services to trade, technology, cybersecurity and more, Pro delivers real time intelligence, deep insight and breaking scoops you need to keep one step ahead. Email pro@politico.eu to request a complimentary trial.