Italys Mediaset workers stage protest

Workers from the Italian media company Mediaset, the largest commercial broadcaster in the country, held their first ever nationwide strike on Sunday.Hundreds of employees gathered outside the main television production centre in Rome to protest against the recently announced outsourcing of the company's make-up artists. One employee held up a banner reading: Contract with Italians: One million jobs less in a clear reference to Berlusconi's electoral promise boost employment by creating a million new jobs. Some of the workers stood in front of Mediaset's Rome headquarters and chanted: Thank you, Silvio. They said they had written to the prime minister about their fears and received no answer. It's like living a nightmare. After such a long time, twenty years of work, it is an impossible situation, a hairdresser for Mediaset, Paolo Bambusi said. Protesting workers voiced their discontent over Mediaset's management.In this organization, every new change introduced, as far as I have seen, has always been for the worse.. whether it be from an organisational point of view, logistical, every single field, said another worker. More than 3,000 workers have joined the strike which will continue on Monday - the first workers' protest on this scale for Italy's largest private media group.Mediaset warned that some programs could be cancelled over the weekend and replaced by reruns. Founded in the 1970s by Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and still controlled today with a 38.6% stake by his family holding company, the group competes primarily against the public broadcaster and market leader RAI, and News Corporation's Sky Italia. Mediaset's headquarters are in the northern Italian city of Milan.