Italy's top three unions have called a general strike to protest pension reforms, in spite of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's plea for support in changing the system. The Prime Minister argues that the pension reforms are in the best social and economic interests of the country, but the unions deny that Italy's pensions system is in need of reform. Pension reform has become an issue in many European countries, as the population ages because of low birth rates and longer life expectancy.
See "Italian Unions Defy Berlusconi, Call Pension Strike", The New York Times, September 29, 2003