Massive Strike Leads Italy Into Temporary Paralysis

New York Times
October 24, 2003

Massive Strike Leads Italy Into Temporary Paralysis

By FRANK BRUNI

ROME, Oct. 24 - Planes idled on tarmacs, trains stopped
running and much of Italy slipped into a state of
temporary paralysis today as a result of a massive
strike to protest a proposed increase in the retirement
age.

Hundreds of thousands of workers heeded the call of the
country’s three largest labor unions and stayed away
from work, and many took part in loud demonstrations
that represented more than a single day’s sound and
fury.

Those demonstrations reflected a growing tension in
Western Europe as many governments reassess the
affordability of their pension systems and many citizens
chafe against the prospect of diminished entitlements.

In Italy, public school teachers played hooky, museum
administrators locked their doors and tens of thousands
of Italians marched down the main arteries of the
country’s cities and flooded its fabled piazzas.

"Defend your future!" shouted people in an enormous
crowd that gathered about noon in Piazza Navona here.
There were whistles, drumbeats and a general air of
genuine unease.

Italy, France and Germany have all contemplated, plotted
or instituted cutbacks in state pension programs. Their
leaders have said that the global economic slowdown,
fewer children and more old people are forcing them to
do so.

Late last month, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi of
Italy took the unusual step of addressing the issue
directly with Italians by giving a nationally televised
speech during the prime-time evening hours.

"Whoever says that everything can continue as it is now
is deceiving us," Mr. Berlusconi said, referring to the
current Italian pension system. "This is not a
sustainable situation."

Many Italians now retire with full benefits from the
state before they turn 60. If they are 57 or younger,
they can retire after paying into the state pension
system for 37 years. If they are over 57, they can
retire after 35 years of contributions.

Mr. Berlusconi has proposed increasing that period to 40
years for men under 65 and women under 60, a requirement
that would take effect in 2008. The Italian Parliament
has not yet voted on the measure.

Mr. Berlusconi’s first stint as prime minister, in 1994,
ended after just seven months, in part because of
disenchantment over his desire to meddle with the state
pension system.

He is nonetheless tackling the issue again, even though
it entails bringing Italians a kind of bad news that
contrasts starkly with his cheery campaign promises two
and a half years ago.

Italians elected him to do for their economy what he did
for his business empire - make it bigger and richer -
but that has not happened.

Some protesters complained that Mr. Berlusconi was
mismanaging the economy and that the answer was not to
delay workers’ retirements. Others said that no kind of
budget crunch warranted the kind of reform Mr.
Berlusconi was proposing.

"I think we should look in general at the life of a
human being, which cannot be considered only in terms of
work," said Amico Antonucci, 54, who stood in the crowd
in Piazza Navona.

Bianca Pomeranzi, 53, proposed an alternative to Mr.
Berlusconi’s plan.

"The problem of too little money to pay pensions and a
low birth rate could easily be solved by allowing more
immigrants into the country," Ms. Pomeranzi said - a
solution that many other Italians oppose.

As Italians took the battle over the pension system to
the streets, there was ample collateral damage. People
waited for buses that did not come, trains that would
not leave and planes that did not fly.

Tourists were among the casualties.

In Florence, visitors who were turned away from museums
entertained themselves instead by taking photographs of
the protesters in the streets.

In Rome, visitors peered longingly, through zoom lenses,
at the ruins that make up the Roman Forum, which was off
limits for the day.

Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/24/international/europe/24CND-ITAL.html?hp