Despite strike, some in Naples find a way to shop

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Italian employees block the entrance and exit at the U.S. Navy’s support site base in Gricignano on Friday, causing drivers to park along the street outside the base and walk in.


Despite strike, some in Naples find a way to shop
By Sandra Jontz, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Saturday, November 29, 2008

NAPLES, Italy — As shoppers across Europe stormed base exchanges on Friday, traditionally one of the busiest shopping days of the holiday season, customers in Naples were slowed by an Italian labor protest that began blocking base gates in the wee hours of the morning and continued into the afternoon.

Italian employees of the U.S. Navy and several departments began gathering about 5:30 a.m. at the support site in Gricignano, forming a human barricade at the front and back gates to keep motorists from driving in or out. The protest forced the Naples commissary to close Friday because there weren’t enough non-Italian employees to staff the store.

But that didn’t keep away all the shoppers.

Sherry Robinson showed up at 5 a.m. to avoid the blocked gates and napped in the car until the Navy Exchange opened at 8 a.m. — two hours early.

“I wanted to avoid the strikers, and I guess I’m stuck here until they’re done,” she said. “But at least I’m stuck inside, where it’s warm and where we have food.”


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=59119