THOUSANDS of workers took part in a general strike across Italy today.

The action, which hit domestic and international flights, schools, hospitals and local transport, was taken in protest against a decline in spending power, low pay and government policies workers say have weakened public services.

Italian trade unions called the eight-hour strike and mobilised marches in cities across the country to target Premier Giorgia Meloni’s latest budget that they warn penalises schools, healthcare and other services. 

They are also pressing for a more equitable distribution of profits from private companies to workers.

“These protests don’t just speak to the government,” Maurizio Landini, head of the CGIL federation, told reporters in Bologna. “They speak also to entrepreneurs, managers and businesses, who in these years have made profits like never before.”

While unions called for an eight-hour strike, Transport Minister Matteo Salvini imposed an injunction limiting the strike in the transport sector to four hours.

Italy’s healthcare sector has been suffering staffing shortages and has been forced to hire nurses from abroad.

“There are many people who go abroad because the salaries are too low,” said Anna Salsa, a member of the UIL health care union, at the demonstration in Rome. 

“We are forced to do double shifts to give the minimal levels of essential care.”