Restaurants throughout Italy set to close on October 31 in workers’ strike

The Local Italy reports that thousands of Italy’s bars and restaurants will close on October 31st as workers go on strike after talks on renewing the National Contract of Tourism, aimed at providing safeguards for the millions of people employed by the industry, broke down on Monday. In response to the economic crisis, Fipe Confcommercio, the Italian restaurant, catering and entertainment federation which represents 300,000 businesses, has been pushing for changes in the contract’s labour conditions in order to “restore efficiency and productivity in a sector at a loss.” This includes scrapping a deal whereby restaurant staff are paid 14 monthly salaries a year. Read article