Business travellers should brace for widespread disruption at the end of the month after two rival trade unions announced overlapping nationwide strikes. The hard-line Union Sindacale di Base (USB) has called out its members for 24 hours on 28 November, followed by a mass rally in Rome on 29 November to protest the government’s 2026 budget. Separately, Italy’s largest confederation, CGIL, plans its own general strike on 12 December, citing cuts to public services and higher defence spending.
Although neither union has yet published sector-specific strike notices, past USB actions have typically involved airport ground handlers, air-traffic technicians, rail conductors and urban-transport staff. In previous walkouts this year, airlines cancelled up to 40 % of domestic flights at Milan Linate and Rome Fiumicino, while Trenitalia operated a reduced timetable outside the legally mandated ‘guaranteed’ time bands (06:00-09:00 and 18:00-21:00).
![Competing national strikes threaten late-November travel across Italy]()
The rivalry between USB and CGIL—fractured after a brief alliance during October’s pro-Gaza protests—raises the prospect of staggered mobilisation that could extend transport turbulence well into the pre-holiday peak. Travel-risk consultancies advise corporations to avoid same-day connections on 28-29 November, build in buffer days for critical meetings and warn assignees about possible last-minute train cancellations.
Employers should also review contingency plans for posted workers whose residence-permit renewals require in-person appointments at questure. Previous strikes have forced police immigration desks to postpone biometric captures, leading to compliance gaps when postal receipts expire.
Looking ahead, the government can invoke a 2023 law empowering the Transport Ministry to shorten strikes that would endanger essential public mobility, but ministers have so far refrained from exercising that option. Unless a late compromise emerges, Italy faces at least two nationwide stoppages in the space of a fortnight, with knock-on effects for international itineraries and supply chains.
Although neither union has yet published sector-specific strike notices, past USB actions have typically involved airport ground handlers, air-traffic technicians, rail conductors and urban-transport staff. In previous walkouts this year, airlines cancelled up to 40 % of domestic flights at Milan Linate and Rome Fiumicino, while Trenitalia operated a reduced timetable outside the legally mandated ‘guaranteed’ time bands (06:00-09:00 and 18:00-21:00).
The rivalry between USB and CGIL—fractured after a brief alliance during October’s pro-Gaza protests—raises the prospect of staggered mobilisation that could extend transport turbulence well into the pre-holiday peak. Travel-risk consultancies advise corporations to avoid same-day connections on 28-29 November, build in buffer days for critical meetings and warn assignees about possible last-minute train cancellations.
Employers should also review contingency plans for posted workers whose residence-permit renewals require in-person appointments at questure. Previous strikes have forced police immigration desks to postpone biometric captures, leading to compliance gaps when postal receipts expire.
Looking ahead, the government can invoke a 2023 law empowering the Transport Ministry to shorten strikes that would endanger essential public mobility, but ministers have so far refrained from exercising that option. Unless a late compromise emerges, Italy faces at least two nationwide stoppages in the space of a fortnight, with knock-on effects for international itineraries and supply chains.
