The festive season, traditionally a time of truce, has this year become the scene of a sudden intensification of the European social struggle. As mass consumption peaks, workers in the shadows have decided to make the invisible visible.
The major news story on Monday, 22 December, is the launch of a massive strike in the logistics sector in Italy. This movement, led by grassroots unions such as the USB, is paralyzing the warehouses of e-commerce giants. The strikers are not only demanding wage increases to compensate for inflation eroding their purchasing power; they are also calling for an end to the system of “bogus cooperatives” that allow contractors to shirk their employer responsibilities. This 72-hour strike, which began on 22 December, sends a strong signal across the continent: logistics is the Achilles heel of globalized capitalism, and workers are prepared to block Christmas to regain their dignity.
In France, discontent in the health and social care sector is entering a new phase. Following demonstrations from 16 to 18 December, workers’ collectives (ASSO-Solidaires, CGT) are keeping up the pressure. They denounce the “Ségur of the forgotten” (referring to the exclusion of certain staff from pay raises) and the commodification of public services, which turns care into a profitable business. For these actors in the European social struggle, the 2026 budget is a declaration of war: planned cuts in child welfare and disability support are deemed criminal by trade unions.
At the same time, international solidarity was strongly expressed on International Migrants Day on 18 December, the echoes of which still resonate this Monday. Social movements now inextricably link the defense of undocumented migrants’ rights to the fight against austerity. The denunciation of the Asylum and Migration Pact, which institutionalizes migrant sorting at Europe’s borders, has become a pillar of radical protest.
Finally, a new front is opening in the energy sector. Strike notices have been filed for the week between Christmas and New Year’s Eve at several European power plants. Workers refuse to bear the brunt of the “neoliberal energy transition” alone a process closing productive sites without guaranteeing sustainable jobs, while enriching shareholders of oil and gas majors. The European social struggle at the end of 2025 proves that class consciousness is not dying out in front of illuminated shop windows; instead, it is growing stronger in the face of obscene windfall profits.
