There are those who mark birthdays, anniversaries and public holidays in their diaries. And then there are those who, with equal scrupulousness, plan strikes. In Italy it goes like this: the calendar is not complete if not dotted with abstentions from workpossibly announced well in advance. 2026, from this point of view, promises well: in mid-January there were already 56 strikes proclaimed. It doesn’t matter whether the stop will actually happen or be revoked at the last minute. It’s important to fix it. Give a signal.
A year that promises hardships
Let’s take the flight sector: on January 31st, at Verona airport a slew of trade unions proclaimed a four-hour abstention; on February 16th it’s the turn of Ita Airways workers, stopped for 24 hours; On March 7, the employees of ENAV, the body that manages civil air traffic, went on strike in Rome from 10am to 6pm.
In the new year the local public transport remains privileged terrain for this state of permanent mobilization. On January 30th the Giamporcaro bus lines in Sicily stopped, the day before ConeroBus in the Marche region, and on January 19th the workers of Eav in Campania and those of Sasa in Bolzano together. Three days earlier, Sicily again: Interbus in Enna, Etna Trasporti in Catania, Segesta Autolinee and Autoservizi Russo in Palermo. At the same time, some fire brigade unions are also crossing their arms in Rome.
The numbers of an annus horribilis
A mosaic of protests which, while not going into the merits of the individual recriminations, can clearly help us recognize the result, which is always the same: services interrupted, widespread inconveniences for the defenseless population, certain social costs. This happened in 2025, an annus horribilis with 1,485 proclaimed mobilisations. This is certified by the Guarantee Commission for strikes in essential public services, today chaired by Paola Bellocchi.
What is affected is a vast range of activities. Transport: with railways, aviation and local transport constantly under pressure (626 strikes called in 2025). Then healthcare (129), school (48), logistics and public administration (in both cases 156 mobilisations), justice (60), environmental hygiene (160), communication (183). Short interruptions alternating with 24-hour blocks, national strikes alongside territorial unrest, historical confederations flanked by a myriad of autonomous acronyms, often in competition with each other but united by a fundamental belief: it is the only tool left.
From strike to background noise
Looking through this series of mobilisations we find everything. The ones who crossed their arms twice (July and October) were, for example, the pharmaceutical distribution workers; four times those who work in credit institutions, once the employees of the Bank of Italy. In July, the members of Uil di Elilombardia, the company that deals with helicopter transport, were supposed to go on strike. Going back to July 2024 we even find a strike in Mantua in the funeral sector.
The Guarantor’s calendar, therefore, has become a must-read for commuters and businesses, a sort of low intensity civil war bulletin. The numbers speak for themselves: on average four strikes were called per day, including holidays. One every six hours. A pace that not only paralyzes services and economic activities, but also ends up wearing them out credibility of the trade union demandswhen these are founded.
Economic or political protest
Also because most mobilizations, in the end, do not take place. In 2025, as many as 964 strikes were revoked, often at the last moment, others merged, still others canceled after an agreement between the parties. A fact that fuels the suspicion that it strike be used increasingly as a tactical lever, if not as a means of preventive pressure, rather than as a last resort.
Then there is a new element that marks a leap in quality. «2025 has transformed the strike from an instrument of economic demands to vehicle of political protest», observes the political scientist Alessio Postiglione. Mobilizations against budget maneuvers, against labor policies, against foreign policy choices. «On several occasions the trade union conflict has merged with the streets, becoming an act of general protest against the government and, more profoundly, against the very idea of institutional mediation».
The demonstrations for Gaza or in support of the Flotilla were the most evident example of this. And this is a problem also shared by trade associations. “Rights are an important thing, so beware of using a strike for reasons that go beyond the legitimate protection of workers’ interests,” explains Cristian Camisa, national president of the Italian Confederation of Small and Medium Industry.
The social cost of conflict
Also because the price of this permanent conflict Above all, the citizens pay for it. Commuters forced to reinvent their journeys every day, families stuck on holidays, penalized students, self-employed workers and small entrepreneurs hit by a machine that regularly jams. «Each strike, even when legitimate, produces a sum of micro-damages which, accumulating, affect collective trust and public coffers», explains Postiglione further.
But that’s not all. The data of the Guarantee commission concerns exclusively i essential public servicesthose that guarantee fundamental constitutional rights such as mobility, health, safety, education and communication. Large portions of the labor market are left out, in particular the private sector, where there is no general obligation to communicate abstentions. «What we see is only the tip of the iceberg. A huge tip, sure, but a tip nonetheless.”
The problem is that, despite the intensity of the conflict, few disputes have been resolved in a structural way. And 2026 opens with new proclamations, as if the fuse had never been blown out. «The impression», concludes Postiglione, «is that Italy is not going through a season of protests, but a paradigm shift: the strike as normality, no longer as a last resort.” A routine that risks emptying the instrument of its original meaning, transforming it from a form of struggle to permanent background noise.
