Italian Strike May Disrupt Coverage of Venice Summit
ROME — Striking employees Friday pelted the headquarters of the state-run RAI broadcast network with eggs and threatened to disrupt news coverage of the June 8-10 summit of Western industrialized countries in Venice.
The 24-hour walkout began Thursday and forced cancellation of news programs and many prime-time shows.
“They’d kill us if they go out on June 3,” said Jim Rutledge, a U.S. television pool producer coordinating coverage of the Venice summit for American networks.
Rutledge said RAI is supposed to provide local transmission facilities and footage of the summit for use by the U.S. and other foreign networks.
The RAI workers are demanding higher wages and a greater say in programming.
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