ROME, June 16 (Xinhua) -- Italy was in the grip of a 24-hour transportation strike Friday as some unions protested privatizations across the sector.
Trenitalia public rail company, airlines, subways and buses were affected nationwide.
The Grassroots General Union said in a statement that "privatizations...are causing economic disarray, unemployment, decreased public services, and a worrisome drop in safety standards along with free-falling wages, rights and worker protections."
"Unfortunately, it's going to be a black Friday for transportation," Italian news agency ANSA cited Transportation Minister Graziano Delrio as saying.
"We tried to induce them to be reasonable, but there will be difficulties."
In Rome, all three metro lines were shut down and the capital city was reportedly even more snarled in traffic than it usually is, as commuters were forced to drive to work.
Alitalia and easyJet airlines had to cancel some flights due to airport strikes in the northern city of Bologna, as well as the southern regions of Puglia and Sicily.
"The right to strike is undebatable, but we could have done more to regulate it," Democratic Party chief and ex-PM Matteo Renzi commented in a morning news roundup on the party's website.
Renzi pointed out that transportation sector strikes "almost always" occur on a Friday, meaning that workers guarantee themselves a long weekend off.
