Automotive workers and public transport strike on same day.

Commuters in Rome and other cities across Italy face disruption to local public transport services on Friday 18 October due to a nationwide 24-hour strike.

The industrial dispute, called by the Si-Cobas trade union representing public transport workers, will affect bus, subway and tram services, with strike timetables varying from city to city.

In Rome the strike is set to affect public transport services from 08.30 to 17.00 and from 20.00 until the end of service, while in Milan ATM transport services will be disrupted from 08.45 to 16.30 and from 18.00 onwards.

The reasons for the nationwide dispute, which will not affect Trenitalia rail services, include demands for pay increases as well as "a freeze on military spending and the shipment of weapons to Ukraine" and "an end to the colonial occupation of Palestinian land.”

The industrial action is among a series of strikes affecting air travel, trains and local public transport in October.

Strike and demonstration by automotive workers

Separately, workers from the Stellantis automaker group and the entire automotive sector are set to down tools for eight hours on 18 October, with a major demonstration planned in Rome.

The strike is organised by trade unions representing automotive workers, a powerful lobby in Italy, amid rising tensions between Giorgia Meloni's government and Stellantis as the multinational automative giant relocates production to countries outside Italy.

Deputy premier and transport minister Matteo Salvini on Saturday said Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares "should be ashamed and apologise" for claiming that car production in Italy was too expensive unless the government delivered fresh incentives for the sector, news agency ANSA reports.

The demonstration in Rome will begin at Piazza Barberini at 09.30 and make its way to Piazza del Popolo where workers from Stellantis and the general secretaries of Fim-Cisl, Fiom-Cgil and Uilm-Uil trade unions will speak.

For official information about public transport strikes in Italy see the transport ministry website.

Photo credit: CatwalkPhotos / Shutterstock.com.