ITALIAN workers took strike action over coronavirus safety issues today with the government accused of putting lives at risk by deeming almost 60 per cent of the country’s workforce as “essential.”

Metalworkers’ unions called the action on Monday, raising concerns that non-essential companies, including call centres and weapons factories, had been exempted from government orders to close after pressure from bosses’ organisation Confindustria.

Communist Refoundation Party (PRC) national secretary Maurizio Acerbo said that an estimated 7.5 million workers – 57.3 per cent of the Italian workforce – were classed as essential under emergency legislation.