Italy: CGIL general strike on Friday 20 November 2026 (public and private sectors, full working day)

CGIL, Italy's largest union confederation, has called a nationwide general strike of all public and private sectors for Friday 20 November 2026, covering a full working day. Maurizio Landini announced it from the stage of the "La Via Maestra" demonstration in Piazza del Popolo, Rome, on Saturday 17 October, and the confederation formally filed the strike with the Ministry of Transport on 19 October (category: general strike of public and private sectors, including contracted and ancillary services; modality: full working day; scope: national).

What to expect

As a general strike, it covers rail, local public transport (bus, tram, metro), airports and ferries alongside every other sector. Each transport sector has its own rules on hours and guaranteed services under Italy's essential-services law: rail and local transport strikes normally come with guaranteed time bands, and air-transport strikes with protected flights. The sector-by-sector notices with exact hours have not yet been published; this record will be updated when they are.

The same night, a separate CUB and SGB rail strike runs from 21:00 on 20 November to 20:00 on 21 November, and ENAV air traffic controllers have a nationwide strike on 21 November (13:00–17:00). Together these make 20–21 November a heavy travel weekend in Italy.

Why

CGIL opposes the government's 2027 budget law ("manovra"), which Landini said "fa abbastanza schifo" and which, he said, directs 14 billion euros to arms. The confederation demands higher wages and pensions to recover lost purchasing power, less precarious work, more resources for public health and education, affordable housing, and a stronger tax contribution from the wealthiest — it proposes a 1% contribution on net wealth above 2 million euros.