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Italy’s armed forces demand better pay and pensions in Rome protest
Joint protest
Approximately 6,000 members of Italy’s armed forces and security services marched in Rome, demanding better pay, pensions, and workplace protections during the first joint protest of its kind.
Approximately 6,000 members of Italy’s armed forces and security services marched in Rome, demanding better pay, pensions, and workplace protections during the first joint protest of its kind.
Collective Agreement Impact
The new collective agreement affects approximately 430,000 military and security personnel, signalling a significant commitment to address their economic and professional needs amid rising costs of living.
The new collective agreement affects approximately 430,000 military and security personnel, signalling a significant commitment to address their economic and professional needs amid rising costs of living.
Union Statement
“The reasons why we did not sign this agreement and rejected it are simple: what we were supposed to receive from an economic point of view has not been delivered,” said NSC secretary-general Massimiliano Zetti.
“The reasons why we did not sign this agreement and rejected it are simple: what we were supposed to receive from an economic point of view has not been delivered,” said NSC secretary-general Massimiliano Zetti.
Thousands of Italian military and police personnel march in Rome over pay and pensions
Around 6,000 members of Italy’s armed forces and security services marched through Rome on Saturday, demanding higher pay, better pensions and stronger workplace protections.
The demonstration brought together representatives of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Carabinieri and Guardia di Finanza in the first joint protest organised by the country’s main defence and security unions.
The rally came just days after the government renewed the collective agreement covering around 430,000 military and security personnel. The deal includes a gross monthly pay rise of €188 and a one-off back payment of €2,448, as well as a commitment to open talks on pension reform.
Several unions, including Sinafi, the New Carabinieri Union (NSC), Usami Aeronautica, Itamil and Silmm, refused to sign the agreement, arguing that it does not go far enough to address pay and retirement concerns. They organised Saturday’s protest to press the government for further measures.
Marching under the slogan, “Every day we serve Italy. Today we demand respect”, protesters carried banners through the streets of Rome.
In a statement issued ahead of the rally, the unions outlined four main demands: reform of the supplementary pension system and an end to plans to raise the retirement age to 65, stronger legal protections for security personnel, pay increases that keep pace with the rising cost of living, and greater investment in recruitment, training and modernising the profession.
The protest concluded with a conference on the future of Italy’s security, defence and emergency services, attended by representatives of several unions, including the New Carabinieri Union (NSC), which refused to sign the new pay agreement.
“The reasons why we did not sign this agreement and rejected it are simple: what we were supposed to receive from an economic point of view has not been delivered,” said NSC secretary-general Massimiliano Zetti.
“Because inside those uniforms working for the state, under the state’s emblem, there are not silhouettes, there are families, there are people, women and men who work. It is only right that they should be paid fairly. Security has a cost.”
Law enforcement protests in Europe
Although rare, protests by members of the armed forces and law enforcement have taken place in several EU countries in recent years.
In Italy, police unions organised demonstrations in 2023 to demand more funding for pay rises, salary increases in line with inflation and additional recruitment to tackle staff shortages.
In France, police unions staged strikes and pickets in early 2024, calling for bonuses and guarantees on shifts and leave ahead of the Paris Olympics, which required a major security operation.
In Spain, the Jusapol union repeatedly protested in 2024, demanding pay parity for National Police and Guardia Civil officers with regional police forces such as Catalonia’s Mossos d’Esquadra. Some police unions had also opposed the government’s Catalan amnesty law in late 2023.
Belgian police unions also organised protests in 2022 and 2023, including “white strikes”, roadblocks and a temporary refusal to issue fines for minor offences, with some demonstrations disrupting access to Brussels Airport.
October 12, 2024
6:18 am
‘Cheer up, you caught the bad guy,’ says killer Virginia McCullough as she is arrested for murdering her parents
A woman who murdered her parents “in cold blood” before hiding them in makeshift tombs for four years told officers to “cheer up, you caught the bad guy” as she was arrested in her home.
Virginia McCullough, 36, poisoned her father John McCullough, 70, with prescription medication and fatally stabbed her mother Lois McCullough, 71, shortly afterwards in 2019.
She ran up large debts on credit cards in her parents’ names and after their deaths, she continued to spend their pensions until she was finally caught in 2023.
In body-worn video footage released by police, a handcuffed – and eerily calm – McCullough told officers: “I did know that this would kind of come eventually.
“It’s proper that I serve my punishment.”
She said she had slipped something into her father’s drink then put his body under a bed on the ground floor, and put her mother’s body in an upstairs wardrobe.
McCullough, having been arrested on suspicion of double murder, told an officer: “Cheer up, at least you’ve caught the bad guy.”
She added: “I know I don’t seem 100% evil.”
At the police station, she told officers where a kitchen knife was, which she described as a “murder weapon”, and a hammer which she said “will still have blood on it”.
McCullough, of Pump Hill, Chelmsford, Essex, was sentenced to life imprisonment on Friday with a minimum term of 36 years at Chelmsford Crown Court, after she admitted to their murders between 17 and 20 June 2019 at an earlier hearing at the same court.
Chelmsford Crown Court heard how she hid their bodies in makeshift tombs at the family home in Great Baddow in Essex, then told persistent lies to cover her tracks.
The court heard she cancelled family arrangements and frequently told doctors and relatives her parents were unwell, on holiday or away on lengthy trips.
But concerns over Mr and Mrs McCullough’s welfare were raised in September 2023 by a GP at their registered practice, and Essex County Council’s safeguarding team referred these to police.
The GP had not seen the couple for some time and said Mr McCullough had failed to collect medication and attend scheduled appointments. It was found McCullough had frequently cancelled appointments, using a range of excuses to explain her father’s absence.
Police said a missing persons investigation was initially launched and McCullough lied to officers, claiming her parents were travelling and would be returning in October.
It became a murder investigation, and when officers forced entry to the house in Pump Hill on September 15 2023, McCullough confessed that her parents’ bodies were in the house and that she had killed them.
Nicola Rice, a specialist prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “McCullough callously and viciously killed both of her parents before concealing their bodies in makeshift tombs within their home address.
“She spent the next four years manipulating and lying to family members, medical staff, financial institutions, and the police, spending her parents’ money and accruing large debts in their name.”
She added: “This was a truly disturbing case, which has left behind it a trail of devastation, and I can only hope that the sentence passed today will help those who loved and cared for Lois and John begin to heal.”
To downplay the genocide, the israelis claim there’s only 20,000 people left in north Gaza, says
@MahaGaza
: the real number exceeds 400,000
Man of the right wing Nigel Farage taking more second jobs and freebie helicopter rides
Gosh he’ll soon be a true blue Tory at this rate
Or far far worse
The cost-of-living crisis is far from over, yet the government’s 50% increase to the bus fare cap is a political choice, adding hundreds to annual costs.
To address hardship & the climate crisis, the government must keep the £2 cap & make public transport accessible for all.
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November 23, 2024
8:25 am
Defense alliance NATO chief Mark Rutte has met US President-elect Donald Trump to discuss global security issues, according to a NATO spokesperson.
The meeting took place in Palm Beach, Florida.
During his first term as US president, 2017-2020, Trump pushed for European NATO countries to spend more on defense and described the alliance’s cost-sharing as unfair to the US.
Rutte took over as NATO chief from Norwegian Jens Stoltenberg in November.
Before taking office in January, Trump has nominated Pete Hegseth for the post of defense secretary, which has raised eyebrows among many allies.
Hegseth, 44, has served as an infantry captain in Iraq and Afghanistan, but has no senior military or government officer experience.
November 23, 2024
8:25 am
November 23, 2024
8:17 am
Multiple missiles were fired in an airstrike towards a densely populated part of Lebanon’s capital early on Saturday.
The huge airstrike targeted Beirut’s Basta neighbourhood, and no prior warnings were given by the Israeli military. The largely residential area was struck last month.
At least one violent explosion was heard across the city, Reuters witnesses said, and plumes of smoke could be seen. Scenes of massive destruction at the site were shared online, including a massive crater in the ground.
“Beirut, the capital, woke up to a horrific massacre, as the Israeli enemy’s air force completely destroyed an eight-story residential building with five missiles on Al-Mamoun Street in Basta,” the state-run National News Agency reported.
The health ministry put the initial death toll at four, with 23 wounded. The number is expected to climb in the coming hours as search and rescue efforts continue.
It came after a long day of Israeli airstrikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs, which have been non-stop since last week.
The cross-border fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group escalated into a full-blown war in mid-September.
Israel has bombed southern Lebanon, Beirut’s southern suburbs and the eastern Beqaa region, and has sent ground troops across the border. Hezbollah has continued to fire rockets deeper into Israel.
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