Link to New York Times Article - Increased Strikes for European Travellers

Thank you for sharing. This is very helpful in planning my trip and understanding what to do if there is a strike.

Sandy

This is terrible most especially for those who live there. I’m amazed it’s legal. In NY state, striking is illegal for public transport employees. There is 3rd party mandatory arbitration.

The calendar is really helpful, thanks.

The first thing to do is to check whether your trip might coincide with a planned strike, travel experts say, and avoid traveling on those dates, if possible.

This advice is almost funny. For most of us that would not be possible. We bought the trip way in advance and the hardest things to change are flight tickets. Also imagine telling Rick Steves to move the tour a few days later to avoid the strike.

Very welcome, Sandy!

Hopefully we will both get lucky and strikes won't be an issue for us. I remember my first trip to Italy I had advance knowledge of a potential train strike on a day that I was traveling from Venice to Florence. Fortunately this allowed me to create a backup plan of a car rental which ultimately was needed as the strike did occur!

It's not terrible. The majority of the population supports maintaining decent living conditions and just adapts to whatever needs to be done on strike days. It does affect American visitors who may have nothing more than a two-week vacation to look forward to, which is sad. But it's also why so many people in Europe will fight tooth and nail to never give up hard-fought job benefits that have been whittled away in other countries.

Yes. Read the strike announcements when they are posted in advance. Remember that many strikes are cancelled before the strike day after mediation.

I have to agree that the strikes aren't terrible-maybe inconvenient for Americans. Not to make this a political post but I have been in Spain when strikes happen and it was fascinating to talk to the strike marchers as well as my hotel manager who was against the strikers. Good or bad -workers have more rights in Europe and striking is simply a part of life-especially now with the cost of living going up.

Thanks for sharing. I just canceled my trip to France for next week due to impending strikes. I re-booked for Germany, thinking there would be no issues, and just read, thanks to the article that you shared, that strikes will take place there this Friday. I'm starting to think I should give up on going to Europe and stay home, lol!

I wonder if the local population views the strikes as being "terrible." If I've learned anything traveling in France, especially from the early 1990s on, and engaging them in conversation, I would venture to say they see it as a positive thing. Bravo !

@Fred

Today and Friday public transport is partially on strike in Munich. Of course I do not like it when I must go to work and of course I'm complaining about it.

But well like you said - Bravo. I fully understand and support it.

I remember the time I went to Madrid and American TV kept running footage of the unruly strikers in Madrid at night. My parents kept in touch with me and were convinced I'd be hurt in the mallee. While I saw and heard the people protesting in Puerto del Sol during the day, I never saw anything violent and I'm convinced that the US news shows the most violent images to scare people.

Let people protest, it's our right in democracies. Plus some of the signs I saw in Barcelona were quite clever in Spanish and some of the more savvy people wrote signs in English.

Thanks so much @joeandrose for sharing this unlocked article! I'm so glad I read it. I had been considering taking a flight from Barcelona to get around the strikes in France...only to learn there are strikes at airports in Spain.

BTW. I was recently in Italy. When I asked Italians I met about their train strikes, they laughed. They said they're minor inconveniences, especially when compared to France.

When I lived in Italy, we encountered strikes regularly. They can be inconvenient, but you learn to work around them. That flexibility is often what tourists don't have or know how to implement. I appreciate the fact that strikes in Italy are announced in advance. In the Rome accommodations I use for my students and me, I get regular updates from the front desk staff. They are always looking out for us and I appreciate that.

You are welcome, Morfal.

Yes, I have been caught in a few train strikes in Italy but there has always been a work-around. Many tourists, if taking the train, are often on Frecciarossa high-speed trains which are rarely (from my understanding) affected by strikes. Similar to the Leonardo Express train (from the airport to Termini train station) is a guaranteed service during strikes.

"...you learn to work around them." How true ! Some years back when the protests and strikes by the "yellow jackets" in France were taking place causing inconvenience, and all that, I also recall , more importantly, the public support given to them in practical terms. Bravo !

@ Mignon.... Einverstanden. !

where you can view a database containing upcoming scheduled strikes in Italy

Bad journalism. Why providing a link to a site that would be obscure to foreign tourists even with Google Translation? Many have no idea if they are staying in Tuscany, Umbria or Lazio. Not to mention the Province or the small Unions nobody knows.

I would have provided a link to the list of all local and long distance trains guaranteed to run during strikes. Or mentioned that local trains can't strike 6-9 AM and 6-8 PM.