Italy Orders Friday’s Strike Postponed for Flights, but the USB Union Says It Will Strike Anyway

Italy’s transport minister, Matteo Salvini, has signed an order telling the USB union to postpone the air transport part of its general strike on Friday, October 30, 2026, along with rail, local transport, taxis and shipping. USB said on Tuesday evening, October 27, that it will disobey the order and strike all day regardless.

The order is the step our earlier report on the October 30 strike was waiting for. On paper, there is no longer a lawful air strike in Italy on Friday. In practice, what happens to flights depends on how many workers defy the order.

What the order says

The ordinance asks for the strike to be moved “to another date” in the sectors covered by the strike-free period around the Day of the Dead on November 2, ANSA reported on Tuesday night. It lists air transport first, then taxis, local public transport, rail and maritime transport, rail contractors and road traffic and safety.

It is a postponement, not a shorter strike. None of the reports we read give a new date. We could not find the text on the ministry’s website, and its strike register, updated October 27, still lists USB’s air stoppage for Friday from midnight to 11:59 p.m.

The minister acted at the request of Italy’s strike guarantee commission, which had warned of serious harm to freedom of movement on the long All Saints’ weekend. For aviation, the October 30 to November 5 window is one of the periods in which, according to Italy’s civil aviation authority ENAC, strikes cannot be held at all.

Rail has already acted on it. Italy’s FS rail group said trains will run to the normal timetable from 9 p.m. Thursday to 9 p.m. Friday, citing ministerial ordinance no. 204 T of October 27, VareseNews reported. Regional operator Trenord said the same.

Why flights could still be disrupted

USB called the ordinance “a wrong and illegitimate order, which we disobey.” It said it confirms the strike for the whole day in the sectors the order names, and that it accepts the sanctions, which it calls very heavy, while considering them illegitimate.

The sanctions can fall on individual workers. Under Italy’s strike law, a worker who ignores such an order can be fined €500 to €1,000 for each day, and a union €2,500 to €50,000 a day.

USB has told its members it cannot cover those fines but will give legal help to anyone who asks. It argues that the strike-free periods breach the European Social Charter, citing a decision on a USB complaint by the Council of Europe’s European Committee of Social Rights.

That leaves a strike that is banned on paper but may still be partly observed. How many airline, airport and ground staff stay home on Friday cannot be known in advance, so neither can the number of canceled flights.

Pisa and Florence, and the court record

A second notice is filed for Friday: a 24-hour strike by Toscana Aeroporti, GH Toscana and Consulta staff at Pisa and Florence airports, called by USB’s private-sector arm. The reports of the order do not say whether it also covers this local strike, and the ministry register still lists it.

USB has beaten Salvini’s strike orders before. The Lazio regional administrative court upheld its appeal in March 2024 against a cut of a local transport strike to four hours, and in December 2024 suspended an order that limited a rail, local transport, maritime and taxi strike to four hours, according to VareseNews.

We found no report of a court challenge to this order. USB official Luigi Marinelli told the Dire news agency on Wednesday that the union will appeal any penalty imposed on workers who join.

What passengers can claim

Under EU passenger rights rules, a canceled flight still carries a refund or rerouting, plus care at the airport. Cash compensation is the harder question.

The European Commission says strikes by an airline’s own staff are not extraordinary circumstances, so they can trigger compensation. A strike outside the airline, such as one by airport handlers, may count as extraordinary, but the airline must prove the link and that the cancellation could not have been avoided.

The register’s next aviation strikes fall after the protected window: ENAV staff at Bari from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on November 6, and a national four-hour ENAV strike on November 21, like the September 30 controllers’ strike, from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. On November 22, ENAV staff at Milan Malpensa and Sicuritalia IVRI security staff at Venice Marco Polo have each filed 24-hour strikes.