Catherwood LibraryILR School

In a vote that Italy's leftwing and center-left senators refused to take part in, senators linked to the center-right government of President Silvio Berlusconi overwhelmingly passed late much contested changes to Italy's labor law late Wednesday night (see WIT's for April 17 and March 15, 2003). Part of an overall push by Mr. Berlusconi to weaken Italy's unemployment programs, just-cause dismissal laws, and regulations on the nature and hours of work, the new laws were hailed by Italian industry federation Confindustria, decried by the country's largest union CGIL, and accepted by the less militant CISL and UIL unions. The left-leaning CGIL has called a general strike for February 21, and will almost certainly provide stiff opposition to Mr. Berlusconi's insistence that the Senate pass more far reaching changes to Italy's labor laws before July.