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£1 No 2698 1 April 2020

FRESH SAFETY

STRIKES IN ITALY

by SIMON BASKETTER keep the petrol stations open.
The crisis has triggered
renewed walkouts as workers
WORKERS IN Italy are demand shutdowns and
resisting bosses’ attempts to improved safety measures.
benefit from the coronavirus Workers at the shipbuilder
crisis. Fincantieri in Liguria, where
Metal workers in Lombardy a worker tested positive for
and Lazio in northern Italy Covid-19, have been on strike
held a 24-hour strike on since 19 March.
Wednesday of last week. The action has spread to
They were protesting over other company dockyards in
having to work at companies the area.
not considered essential Workers at the Ilva
during the outbreak. steelworks in the southern
Textile and chemical region of Puglia declared a
workers also struck. ten-day strike due to lack of
Two weeks ago a wave protective equipment.
of unofficial action brought One of the smaller union
shutdowns and improved federations, Unione Sindacale
safety for workers. di Base, also held a gen-
eral strike throughout Italy
Hammered to push for all non-essential
The government and unions industries to close.
sat round the table and It has several hundred
hammered out a deal to keep thousand members mainly
business going. in logistics companies, such
Prime minister Giuseppe as Amazon and TNT, and on
Conte has been adamant farms. The action was backed
that, “Italy does not stop.” by all the left parties that are
Some 80 industries and an HEALTH WORKERS in Italy take part in a stoppage last week not in government.
estimated 12 million workers The union federation also
were designated essential. workers’ unions protested Paolo Pirani, head of the creates conditions not agreed including the giant Torrazza called a symbolic one-minute
Despite warm promises to that the list of “essential” Uiltec chemical and textile with us and fans a lot of con- Piemonte facility, and threats stoppage for emergency
the unions, keeping business industries and workers had workers’ union, said, “The cern among workers.” of a walkout by petrol station workers, which had a take up
going has been the order of been “excessively extended, decree allows a lot of firms to The metal workers’ attendants and owners. beyond the union including
the day. covering areas of dubious remain open, many without strike came amid repeated At the time of writing, the among firefighters and
In Lombardy, metal importance”. the proper safety norms. It walkouts at Amazon plants, government had managed to medical staff.
Trump forced into small climbdown as death toll and US virus count rise

by SOPHIE SQUIRE Institute of Allergy and been forced to extend is now staying in Vermont.
Infectious Diseases. measures such as social He told Socialist Worker
He said the crisis distancing until at least that many people are
THE US last week could result in “millions 30 April. making similar moves
overtook China to of cases” in the US and He had previously away from New York and
become the country with “between 100,000 and suggested that they could other badly hit areas.
the highest number of 200,000 deaths”. be relaxed as early as “If people are able to
corona virus cases. Last Saturday Trump Easter, which falls in mid- afford it, they are getting
Donald Trump said he was moving April. out of the city,” he said.
celebrated the fact, towards ordering Trump has suggested Kayla, a socialist
saying that this was a an “enforceable” that surgical mask student activist currently
“tribute to our testing”. quarantine on the shortages in coronavirus living in Massachusetts,
The two leading health entire New York-New hot spots, such as New told Socialist Worker how
officials on Trump’s Jersey-Connecticut region, York City, are down to desperate the situation
Coronavirus Task Force covering some 30 million hospital staff stealing is getting for her and
last weekend warned people. them. millions of others across
of the scale of potential This was met with Reece is a US socialist the US.
deaths. incredulity and he who had been living “I reckon my parents
Anthony Fauci is the retreated. in New York until the will get basically
director of the National Donald Trump and one of his medical advisors, Anthony Fauci Trump has also outbreak of the virus and >>continued on page 18

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