This paper has been presented at the 2nd Labour Law Research Network Conference, held in Amsterdam on June 25-27, 2015

The economic crisis, the outsourcing of production, and globalization have produced significant changes in industrial relations and trade unions. Because of these changes, dissent – which is usually manifested through the exercise of the right to strike and the spontaneous actions – faces certain limitations set by trade union clauses, which have been recently introduced to govern industrial relations (e.g. industrial peace clauses and enforceability ones). In order to deal with the foregoing questions, the present paper provides an analysis of the notion of strike through supranational sources (Introduction, Silvia Donà, Università di Roma La Sapienza), followed by an examination of what is meant by “holding the right to strike” in Italy. The paper goes on to investigate the way this right is exercised (Section 1, Lilli Carollo, Università di Roma La Sapienza) and the clauses which have been devised to narrow down its exercise through the years (Section 2, Anna Rota, Università di Bologna), and concludes with an overview of the consequences arising from the violations of these clauses (Section 3, Marianna Russo, Università di Roma La Sapienza). With a view of better understanding the peculiarities of the Italian rules concerning the right to strike, a comparison will be provided with France and the UK (Marta Filippi, Università di Roma La Sapienza).