The most notable change in the shopkeeping environment during the new century was that in the nature of the relations between employer and employee. Between 1878 and 1899 there were only two strikes involving workers in the esercenti sector in Milan, that of the bakery workers in 1886, and a one-day affair involving barbers' apprentices in 1893. Almost every esercenti profession witnessed some form of disruption around the 1900s, however, with a strike of confectionery workers in 1899, bakery workers in 1900 and 1901, poulterers' assistants in 1901, the waiters and bar staff of the esercizi pubblici in 1902 and 1903, and butchers, dairymen and hairdressers in 1903.

This strike wave undermined the paternalistic concept of labour relations that the proprietors held dear and had profound implications for the development of esercenti identity. This chapter analyses the development of labour relations within the esercenti sector at the beginning of the twentieth century. Chapter 13 examines the effect of these changes on the political strategy of the esercenti movement.

Milan was at the forefront of the Italian labour movement, as might be expected given the city's leading role in the industrial sector. The first worker associations, the Mutue, were friendly societies devoted to providing assistance to their membership, rather than industrial and political activity. In the 1890s, however, leghe di resistenza (leagues of resistance) began to develop amongst the most ‘advanced’ areas of manufacturing, such as the metallurgical sectors, organising strikes and forcing negotiations with management.