STRIKE WAVE IN ITALY

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28930, 25 June 1959, Page 13

STRIKE WAVE IN ITALY

100 Ships Still Idle GENOA, June 23. Police flying squads drove their jeeps around in tight circles on the Genoa dockside today to break up a demonstration of 300 striking seamen. The men had gathered after hearing reports that a strikebound liner was about to sail. Police said later that the ship was only being moved by tugs to another dock. In Rome, the Minister of Mercantile Marine (Senator Angelo Jervolino) said the seamen must stop their two-week-old strike before he would resume mediation in their demands for higher pay and better working conditions. Nearly 100 of Italy’s biggest ships are tied up—l 9 of them in fpreign ports. The nation-wide bank clerks’ strike has entered its second week. Senior staff are providing skeleton services. About 1,000,000 mechanical engineering workers—including shipyards and the huge Fiat industrial combine —are preparing for a 48-hour general strike on Friday and Saturday. Social workers will come out for 48 hours from tomorrow Strikes by hospital staffs and marble and stone workers are scheduled to begin on Thursday. Italy’s 50,000 miners are also threatening to strike.