ROME/MILAN — September 18, 2026: Apple’s iPhone 18 Pro launch in Italy has been overshadowed by a nationwide strike involving employees at the company’s retail stores, with workers walking off the job on the same day customers lined up to buy the latest iPhone models.
The strike, organized by Italy’s three major retail unions — Filcams CGIL, Fisascat CISL and Uiltucs — covers the full working day of September 18 and involves more than 1,600 Apple retail employees across 17 stores, according to Reuters and Italian media reports.
The timing is significant: September 18 is the commercial launch date for Apple’s new iPhone generation in Italian stores. Images from Milan showed Apple retail workers protesting outside the company’s Piazza Liberty store while customers waited to enter for the new iPhone.
Why are Apple workers striking?
The unions say employees are facing increasing workloads, staffing shortages and greater pressure to meet productivity targets.
They also point to organizational changes and the introduction of new procedures that, they argue, have increased the range of duties employees are expected to perform.
Among the workers’ main demands are:
- More permanent staff at Apple stores
- Greater job stability for temporary employees
- Voluntary increases in working hours for part-time employees
- Staffing levels that better reflect individual store needs
- More sustainable workloads and working conditions
ANSA reported that unions have been pressing Apple for a joint hiring plan, the stabilization of a portion of temporary contracts and voluntary increases in part-time hours.
Unions say temporary contracts are part of the problem
According to the unions, temporary contracts have increasingly been used to cover periods approaching seven months, which they argue points to a structural staffing issue rather than merely short-term demand linked to product launches.
The unions say Apple has proposed increasing and bringing forward some fixed-term hiring, but they want longer-term measures addressing staffing levels and contract stability.
The dispute has been developing for months. Italian reports say union representatives and employees held meetings in early September before confirming the September 18 strike following what they described as insufficient progress in talks with Apple.
Apple says its stores continued operating
Apple’s position differs from the unions’ account.
Reuters reported that Apple said its stores were operating normally and highlighted employee benefits including health coverage and mental-health support.
That means the immediate effect of the strike appears to vary by location rather than representing a nationwide shutdown of Apple’s Italian retail operation.
Reports from Milan, however, showed a visible protest outside the Piazza Liberty Apple Store as customers queued for the new iPhone. Similar demonstrations were reported in other Italian cities, including Rome, Turin and Bologna.
Why the timing matters
Apple product launches are among the busiest periods for its retail stores, making September 18 a highly visible moment for workers to stage industrial action.
The strike therefore puts two very different scenes side by side: customers arriving to purchase Apple’s newest flagship smartphones while employees demonstrate over staffing, working hours and employment conditions.
For Apple, the dispute comes as the company begins selling its latest iPhone generation in Italy — one of the most closely watched retail moments of the year.
What happens next?
The immediate question is whether the strike leads to renewed negotiations between Apple and the unions.
The unions are seeking structural changes rather than measures they consider temporary fixes, particularly around staffing levels and employment stability. Apple, meanwhile, maintains that its stores are operating and has pointed to existing employee benefits.
For customers, the launch itself continues, but the scenes outside Apple Stores in Milan, Rome and other Italian cities have added an unexpected labor dispute to what was supposed to be one of Apple’s biggest retail days of the year.
The iPhone 18 Pro may be the headline product — but in Italy, the workers behind Apple’s retail operation have made their own demands impossible to ignore.
