Unions representing Rome police
officers will likely be fined 100,000 euros over job action, the
authority that oversees strikes in essential services in Italy
said Tuesday as it authorized the fine.
The city says about 85% of officers called in sick on New
Year's Eve in an illegal form of protest.
Police unions have been ramping up job action for months in
protest over cutbacks and working conditions, including a
national municipal police strike and Rome rally last month with
more than 10,000 officers taking part.
Other trade union organizations stayed out of the action,
suggesting the timing of the police protests was not well
chosen.
"It is unacceptable that a worker should use battle
instruments not contemplated by the unions that create problems
for all public employees while we are discussing public
administration reform," Rossana Dettori, secretary-general of
the public-sector branch of the CGIL, said last month during the
national strike.
Civil Service Minister Marianna Madia has said that
protests by Rome police, including the alleged mass absenteeism
on New Year's Eve, would be used in framing new rules for
Italy's public administration - particularly concerning mass and
reiterated abstention from work, including "concrete
disciplinary measures".
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