Italy’s main unions call for general strike against Telecom network spin off

ROME (Reuters) – Italy’s main telecom unions called on Friday for a general strike against a possible spin off of Telecom Italia’s (TIM) network.

The labour groups have raised concerns over a potential break up of the company and a fallout on jobs as the former phone monopoly studies a split of its network assets as an alternative to a takeover approach by fund KKR.

Employees of all the TIM group companies will strike on Feb. 23 and not work extra shifts between Feb. 21 and March 22, unions SLC-CGIL, FISTel-CISL and UILCOM-UIL said in a joint statement.

(Reporting by Elvira Pollina, editing by Maria Pia Quaglia)