The Alitalia pilots and cabin crew 24-hour strike scheduled for Friday 26 July, reported below, has been postponed to Friday 6 September after unions accepted requests by the government strike watchdog authority. The strike was also reduced from 24 to four hours, timing to be announced.

Only two days after apparent sabotage blocked Italy’s main Milan-Rome high-speed rail line for over half a day, now two strikes are set to make commuters’ lives difficult.

On Wednesday 24 July, a four-hour urban transport strike will bring Italy to a still-stand at various times in different cities, in most cases for four hours.

Urban transport like metro, buses and trams in Milan will not run between 18.00 and 22.00. The same timetable will apply in Turin and Florence. Workers in Rome will observe 12.30 to 16.30, in Naples 09.00 to 11.00, and in Bologna 11.00 to 15.00.

In Milan, taxi-drivers will strike for 24 hours, but will make an exception for the elderly, the sick and the disabled.

On the same day, trains on the national networks will not run for eight hours, between 09.00 and 17.00. And ferries will strike for the whole day, except for essential services.

Two days later, it will be the turn of airline passengers to suffer: Alitalia will suspend all flights on Friday 26 July.

While transport unions are demanding a total revision by the government of working conditions, consumer affairs association Codacons has begged the prime minister and prefects around the country to order strikers back to work, to prevent chaos in the midst of the holiday travel period, and with Linate airport about to close for maintenance..

There is a possibility that the strikes will be cancelled or postponed by the government, but for the moment it would be wiser not to count on this happening.