Trash strike causes nationwide stoppage

(ANSA) - Rome, May 30 - A nationwide 24-hour trash strike on Monday saw 90% participation in cities from north to south, said the sector's major labour unions.
    The unions expressed "great satisfaction for the success of the strike".
    "Aware of worker consent for the labour unions' plan for the sector, (we) will be even more determined to reach the objective of contractual renewal," said unions FP CIGL, FIT-CSIL, UILTrasporti and FIADEL.
    In Rome, more than 80% of the day's first shift of AMA workers participated in the strike, said Natale Di Cola, FP CGIL union general secretary for Rome and Lazio.
    "The regional environmental-hygiene workers' demonstration in front of the Utilitalia headquarters was so well-attended that we weren't able to contain the demonstrators, who flooded into the road and temporarily blocked traffic," Di Cola said, referring to the Italian multi-utility, which includes waste management.
    Consumer association Codacons said the piled-up rubbish lining the capital's streets was putting Rome "at risk for the spread of an epidemic" and called on the Rome prosecutors office to open an investigation.