Italian railway workers have announced an all-national 24-hour strike on Tuesday, and they are expected to be joined later by municipal public transportation workers, local media reported.

The strike, which began on at 9:00 p.m. local time on Monday (19:00 GMT), is organized by labor unions protesting against the stagnation in talks on the national trade contract that expired in December of 2007.

Operators and drivers of municipal buses, metro trains and trams will also join the rail workers on Tuesday and the time of their strikes will be varying from city to city.

In Rome, for instance, the metro, all trams and buses will stop at 8:30 a.m. local time and until 5:30 p.m. They will resume their work during the rush hour, but will again stop at 8:00 p.m.