"Italian workers protest against open factories as COVID-19 spreads", 26 March 2020

Trade unions in Italy have been pressing the government to revise a list of industries allowed to remain open despite COVID-19, amid mounting concerns over workers' health and safety.

Late in the evening of March 21, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte addressed the nation in a Facebook live video and said that his government was going to toughen the existing measures to tackle the coronavirus epidemic ravaging the country. As a result, everything would need to shut down…

A list of about 80 industries that would be exempt from the rule was circulated by the government the next day, and it was later expanded to 97 sectors, including aerospace, defense and the production of agricultural machinery. According to a decree signed off by Conte on March 22, all companies were allowed to appeal to their local prefect to be granted authorization to continue their activities. To many workers and trade unions, this sounded dangerous. In the morning of March 25, metalworkers in Lombardy started a strike as trade unions negotiated with the government to allow industries considered nonessential to shut down. While the metal industry is being allowed to halt production and the defence sector agreed to slow it down, others will be able to continue working…