Italians strike against Berlusconi's austerity budget

Hundreds of thousands of Italians are expected to take to the streets in a nationwide general strike on Friday to protest against a government austerity budget they say bleeds workers but spares the rich.

The strike will affect everything from transport to theatres and farms to factories. Even burials will be delayed at public cemeteries as marchers hope to send a strong message of disapproval to prime minister Silvio Berlusconi.

The country's largest union, the left-leaning CGIL, called the strike to demand the government rewrite the budget to redistribute the cuts more equitably.

"We realise Italy needs to cut the deficit but the government's budget is unjust and depressive," said Susanna Camusso, the deputy leader of CGIL, which has about six million members. "For two years, instead of putting a plan into action, the government denied a crisis even existed." 

Demonstrations against the government measures will be held in nearly every major Italian city.

After months of telling Italians they were immune to a Greek-style debt crisis, Berlusconi's cabinet in May approved a 25 billion euro austerity plan that includes cuts to funds for municipalities and freezing of public sector salaries.

The Italian Treasury said this week that it expected the plans to reduce gross domestic product (GDP) growth by 0.1 percentage points this year and by 0.2 points in 2011 and 2012.

While most private sector workers will strike for four hours, public sector members of the union will stay off the job all day to underscore their anger.

Polls say a majority of Italians believe the cuts are unfairly distributed and the government's promise of salary reductions for parliamentarians has not changed this view.

The strike has split Italy's trade union movement, which is roughly divided along political lines. The other two main unions have asked their members to stay on the job.

But it is not only salaried workers who are heaping pressure on the government. 

Mayors from around Italy placed hangman's nooses around their necks at a Rome demonstration this week, saying the cuts would kill local finances to the point of denying a minimum of social assistance to children, the elderly and the disabled.

Representatives of some of Italy's 20 regions have given the government an ultimatum: change the budget or the central government will have to take over local responsibilities such as road maintenance.

Berlusconi and his centre-right allies will be watching the turnout of the strike closely. Rising popular discontent threatens to weigh on his approval ratings, which are hitting new lows.

The latest poll, released on June 3, showed that only 42.5 percent of Italians approve of Berlusconi, down 5.8 points from February.