ROME - Thousands of Italian trade unionists marched through Rome on Friday to protest against pension changes, the latest sign of mounting opposition to Prime Minister Mario Monti's economic reforms. The protesters say the new rules will catch tens of thousands of recently retired workers with no pension cover. Thousands braved the rain to attend the demonstration, many carrying the red flags of the CGIL, Italy's largest union which organized the march with the more moderate CISL and UIL labor confederations. The large demonstration underlined wider discontent with Monti's unelected government of technocrats at a time when financial markets are on edge again as worries about Spain's budget problems spill over into other euro zone economies, including Italy. "I don't hate Monti but unfortunately technocrats are number crunchers and they don't know that behind the numbers are real people," said 58-year-old Antonio Lupano, a retired print worker marching through central Rome. The government has been striving to impose painful reforms on a debt-burdened economy that has been among the most sluggish in the euro zone for more than a decade. Labor Minister Elsa Fornero estimates that 65,000 workers who took early retirement will be affected by changes that start raising the minimum pension age for many employees from this year. Fornero says amendments to the original legislation will ensure that all of those affected have adequate cover, but the numbers are disputed by unions, which say that as many as 300,000 workers may be left to get by with neither job nor pension. Silvana Garzia, a 57-year-old from Naples who took early retirement from the big communications company Telecom Italia, says she now risks six years with no income at all before she qualifies for a pension. "I'm absolutely against the Monti government because it's making the poorest pay and no-one else," she said. Monti was hailed as the savior of Italy after taking over from scandal-plagued Silvio Berlusconi in November at the height of last year's debt crisis. But since then, the climate around him has become much more hostile.
