Roundup: Calls for reform rising in Italy, Europe's country of strikes

By most estimates, Italy suffers through more than 500 labor strikes per year -- more than any other European country, and perhaps more than any other country in the world.

In recent weeks, Italian journalists, airport baggage handlers, bus drivers and garbage collectors, have all walked off the job at one point or another.

Economists say these hundreds of labor strikes each year most likely cost Italy billions in lost production and other inefficiencies while tarnishing the country's image abroad.

The root causes of Italy's prolific strikers, experts say, date back to a reform aimed at assuring basic public services even when workers walk off the job.

It is difficult to calculate the economic impact, or the effectiveness, of so many labor shortages, in part because of the unusual rules surrounding strikes in Italy in place since the 1990s.

"There are laws in place to guarantee the right to strike and to make sure that even if there's a strike at least the most essential services are not impacted," Giovanni Pino, head of the cabinet for the government commission that makes strikes follow Italian law, told Xinhua.

Pino said the changes from the 1990s sought to strike balance between the rights of workers to strike to demand better conditions and the rights of citizens to have access to basic services. As a result, strikes cannot last more than a day, and if a strike is for an essential service like transport, workers have to be on the job during rush hour.

"The result is many strikes that usually aren't that effective," Andrea Giuricin, a fellow with the Bruno Leoni Institute think tank, said in an interview. "There is an economic impact in terms of unpredictably making the Italian economy work less efficiently and on the image of Italy as a place to do business."

Even though strikes are relatively brief and organized in a way to have minimal impacts on services, strikes have forced significant changes in recent years. A strike by taxi drivers in Rome, for example, convinced the government not to push through reforms that would have added more taxis in the capital.

Strikes by public workers and health workers have also resulted in changes in working conditions in those sectors. But most analysts point to the need for reform.

Paolo Naticchioni, a political scientist with Roma Tre University, said laws governing strikes are in need of a reform, but added any reform must be careful to strike a balance between the needs of workers and consumers, of business owners and the government.

"If there are too few strikes, workers are weak and if there are too many it is hard for business," Naticchioni said in an interview. "I cannot say the system here is perfect. But there are worse alternatives." Endit