Workers in hotel chain plan strike action across Italy

Hotel workers with the international NH chain say they'll strike on Friday to protest the layoffs of hundreds of their colleagues. Italy has 20 properties with the NH Hotel chain, one of the largest internationally and which recently announced the layoffs of 382 workers. The Italian properties employ more than 1,400 and include hotels in Rome, Milan, Palermo, Catania, Siena, Sassari and La Spezia. Their union, CGIL, says the hotel chain "shows no interest in seeking solutions for the protection and preservation of employment, and does not take into account the importance of competence and professionalism of its employees". Planned protests include a sit-in from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. in front of Rome's NH Leonardo da Vinci hotel in Via dei Gracchi near the Vatican; in Milan, two protests are planned, one at the hotel Touring on Piazza della Repubblica and the other outside the headquarters of NH Italy.