'Italians protest police repression of logistic workers in Piacenza', 15 March 2021

On March 13, Friday, a large mobilization was witnessed in Piacenza, Italy, protesting the persecution of union activists and workers of the Piacenza warehouse of the logistics group Fedex-TNT. More than 3,000 people participated in the demonstration called by the Si Cobas union and the Counter Tendency group, among others, in support of the warehouse workers and union activists. Earlier, on March 10, police in the city had launched a witch hunt of the workers by starting inquiry and searches against more than 20 workers, raiding homes and union offices. They also took to revoking residence permits of workers, imposing fines and even placed two union leaders, Mohamed Arafat and Carlo Pallavicini, under house arrest. The police action was viewed as retribution for a week-long strike organized by the workers of the TNT warehouse against layoffs announced by the company. Since the beginning of the year, workers in the logistics sector have been organizing dynamic mobilizations in defense of jobs and workers’ rights in various warehouses and units of logistic giants like Amazon, Nippon Express, Fedex TNT, and others, in Piacenza. Workers also joined the national general strike on January 29 protesting the hardships inflicted on the working class by the insensitivity of the government in handling the COVID-19 crisis... FGC national secretary Lorenzo Lang said that the Italian state is persecuting the TNT workers to send a warning to workers across Italy...