The Italian media suddenly went silent. 24-hour protest by journalists. “Salaries have been eaten up by inflation”

Thursday is the day of a 24-hour strike in Italy by journalists demanding the renewal of the collective agreement. This agreement expired 10 years ago. The industrial action was announced by the National Federation of the Italian Press (FNSI), the national trade union of journalists.

The collective agreement expired on April 1, 2016. The previous all-day journalists' strike took place on March 27.

On the day of the strike, Italian news agencies do not publish their websites, newspaper websites are not updated, and the news on radio and television is transmitted in an abbreviated form. Italian journalists traveling with Pope Leo XIV in Africa will also report on his visit to Cameroon on Thursday after the end of the strike at midnight from Thursday to Friday.

In a statement, the National Federation of the Italian Press stressed: “Italian journalists are on strike for the third time today. We are not doing it lightly, but we believe it is necessary to inform readers, society and the political world about what is happening in our sector; so fundamental to democracy and yet so fragile.”

The agreement concluded with the Federation of Press Publishers, regulating the work of full-time journalists, expired 10 years ago. During this time, publishers benefited from public subsidies while our wages were eaten up by inflation. There are no rules on the use of artificial intelligence or fair compensation for the authors of content contributed to platforms, FNSI noted.

According to the protest organizers, the situation is even worse for thousands of co-workers and sole proprietors who have been waiting for years for a fair wage to be determined and therefore have incomes below the poverty line.

“Publishers have ensured lower labor costs by resorting to dumping practices through the excessive use of precarious work and the precariat” – noted the protesters.

“For the National Federation of the Italian Press, the dignity and future of information depend on the renewal of the collective agreement, the recovery of the real value of wages and the defense of rights that are not privileges, but a necessary condition for us to face threats – both inside and outside the editorial office,” says the FNSI proclamation. (PAP)

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