FLORENCE, ITALY – A strike planned by unions representing staff at Florence’s popular Uffizi Gallery would be illegal, the national strike authority warned Wednesday March 25, 2015.
A unit of the powerful CGIL trade union federation and UIL, both representing Florence museum workers, say they’ll strike on April 4 and 5, the Monday and Tuesday after Easter.
But the authority said the plan violates several regulations, including a ban on strikes by essential workers – which includes cultural properties – around Easter.
It added that two days was “excessive” for a first action in the dispute and said that sanctions were possible if the unions go ahead with the walkout.
The Uffizi Gallery is one of Italy’s most famous cultural institutions, boasting priceless art by masters including Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Botticelli, and Raphael.
Visitors often queue up for several hours to enter the 16th century structure originally built to accommodate the offices of the Florentine magistrates.
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