80 per cent of Rome city employees strike over contract renewals.

About 24,000 Rome municipal employees are striking on 25 May to call for the renewal of their contracts, as well as a chance to renegotiate a 20 per cent pay cut introduced under former mayor Ignazio Marino.

The #ContrattoSubito strike, which has been organised by three of Italy's largest trade unions, CGIL, CISL and UIL, will affect most city services with the exception of essential services in health and transport.

The city employees on strike include traffic police, kindergarten teachers and administrative workers at Rome's town halls. The action will also affect tourists, particularly during the afternoon of 25 May.

The Colosseum, along with the archaeological sites at the Palatine Hill, the Roman Forum and Ostia Antica, are scheduled to close at 13.30, while the Baths of Caracalla, Palazzo Altemps, Palazzo Massimo, the Baths of Diocletian, Crypta Balbi and Cecilia Metella will close at 14.00.

The demonstration begins at 09.00 at the Arch of Constantine, between the Colosseum and the Palatine Hill, and will end near the Campidoglio where protestors will make their demands known to the administration of Rome commissioner Francesco Paolo Tronca.