Sicily unions urge 'general mobilisation' on unpaid workers

(ANSA)- Palermo, May 19 - Trade union leaders in Sicily threatened Monday to call a general strike if as many as 30,000 workers on the regional government payroll do not receive months of unpaid back wages.
    "The situation in Sicily is dramatic and we are very worried about the grave social, economic and administrative crisis in which Sicily has plunged and over the future of the 30,000 workers who depend on the regional budget, who for months have been without salaries," the secretaries of the Sicilian branches of the CGIL, CISL and UIL labour union federations said in a joint statement. "The political world is indifferent to the needs of citizens. For this reason we say 'enough' to power games that make these workers effectively hostages," the union leaders said in a statement.
    "The time has come to say 'enough'. We are proclaiming a state of agitation and, in the absence of any response by the regional government, we will announce a general mobilisation," the unions' statement said.