The eight and ninth of November were particularly interesting days in Italy. News programs where particularly short and dry, newsstands where missing the usually colourful display of daily newspapers.
All this because the journalists where on strike for two whole days. From RAI, to ANSA, Reuters, SKY and Mediaset news where reduced to the minimum necessary.
The strike took place to give journalists a chance to protest against what they term "unfair" working conditions, mainly because of the preference of news producers to hire journalists on short-term contracts with a typically lower pay.
This is the third strike since June and was convoked by the Italian National Press Federation (FNSI) after interrupting negotiations with the management about signing the collective contract, which expired in February.
The FNSI is accusing the Editor´s Federation of not meeting the journalists´ demands and insisting on keeping over half of the sector´s workers in economic precariousness by refusing to raise their salaries.
It also implores management to renovate the collective contract with language that respects journalists´ dignity, independence of the media, and information quality.
