Okay this is now getting slightly absurd. Saturday morning at the Florence train station, headed to Cortona, I purchase my ticket, turn around and find the departure board, and it is systematically canceling trains. Most are still going express to Rome and Milan but none are going to stop in Cortona (at least not till 1:30pm.) It’s 9am and Italian announcements are being made, the audience is groaning, and the foreigners are looking confused. But I’m an expert now in cancelations and this is feeling familiar. A pleasant, British woman comes on over the PA to translate my Italian fears, “The following trains will be canceled today due to a strike of the staff of RFI. We apologize for this drawback.” Drawback, is that the right word? Setback, yes, it most definitely is, but drawback? Do they mean the same thing? Seemed like a funny word to use, but regardless it was time to sit and wait, again. Like airlines in the states, they don’t cancel all of the trains at once, they make you get excited about reading the board in hopes that your’s might be spared, only to then be crushed when 20 minutes before scheduled departure time, it is “officially” canceled.
Bear with me as I try and think through this labor “drawback.” Why strike on a Saturday? Doesn’t seem like much of a threat to employers; striking on a day off. No statewide businesses are affected, really only the train company which is probably state owned and tourism of course. Workers on their days off, who were planning on a holiday this weekend in the countryside, are affected. But big business won’t be affected. So, seems like a stupid day to choose. Of course everything was back to normal on Sunday. Screwy. Maybe they need a labor negotiator instead of a mediator.
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