Commuters and travellers in Milan and Venice faced a day of disruption on Friday as 24-hour transport strikes hit both cities, affecting metro services, trams and buses, including routes serving two of northern Italy's busiest airports.

In Milan, staff at ATM, the company that runs the city's metro, buses and trams, walked out for 24 hours in an action called by the AL-COBAS union and joined by CONFIAL Trasporti. In the Venice area, ATVO bus staff staged a simultaneous 24-hour stoppage, affecting buses linking Marco Polo Airport with Mestre and Venice.

Both strikes were listed on the Italian Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport's published strike calendar, and neither is a national rail stoppage. There is no railway strike in Italy on Friday, with the next national rail action scheduled for 20 and 21 November.

What is running in Milan

As with previous Italian transport strikes, legally required guaranteed service windows applied in Milan. Services ran from the start of the day until 8:45am and again from 3pm to 6pm, with disruption expected between those windows and after 6pm.

The M4 metro line to Linate Airport is an ATM service and was exposed to the strike, although the driverless line has generally kept running during past stoppages. The Malpensa Express airport train, by contrast, is run by Trenord rather than ATM and was not part of the 13 November action, so services to Malpensa Airport were unaffected by this strike.

In Venice, the ATVO stoppage affected buses to Marco Polo Airport, while other services, including the ACTV Aerobus line 5 and the Alilaguna water bus, were not listed as taking part in the action.

Why workers are striking

The unions' stated demands include a 150 euro monthly net pay increase, shorter working hours, reliable rest periods, safer vehicles and a greater say for workers in mobility policy. The action in Milan was filed on the national strike register on 13 October, a month before it took place.

Strikes in Italy are sometimes called off or shortened at the last minute, and operators publish final details shortly before each action, so passengers were advised to check the ATM and ATVO websites and apps before travelling.

More disruption ahead in November

Friday's stoppages are part of a busy November for Italian transport. Bari's AMTAB bus network faces a planned 24-hour stoppage on Saturday, 14 November. A nationwide general strike called by the CGIL union is scheduled for 20 November, followed by a rail strike running from 9pm on 20 November to 8pm on 21 November.

Further action is listed for 22 November, when ENAV air traffic control staff are scheduled to strike at Milan Malpensa and security staff at Venice Marco Polo are listed for a 24-hour stoppage. As Travel and Tour World reported, the November calendar also includes a nationwide rail-sector protest and further city transport stoppages later in the month.

For travellers, the distinction matters: a local metro or bus strike does not automatically stop national high-speed trains, and guaranteed service windows mean that even on strike days, many services still run in the morning and late afternoon. Checking the operator's announcements before setting out remains the safest approach.