On 21 August 1968, Novella's CGIL not only expressed its clear condemnation against the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, but broke with the World Federation of Trade Unions, the international organization of Marxist-inspired unions. Meanwhile, in Italy, the struggles in the South exploded and the Government did not hesitate in repressing them with extreme hardness. On 2 December 1968, in Avola, near Siracusa, the police shot the workers who are demonstrating after the end of the negotiations for the renewal of employment contracts, killing two demonstrators. On 9 April 1969, near Battipaglia, Campania, the police shot workers who were demonstrating against the probable closure of the local tobacco factory, killing a 19-year-old worker and a young teacher. Workers' protest continued in the so-called Hot Autumn ("Autunno Caldo"), a term used for a series of large strikes in factories and industrial centers of Northern Italy, in which workers demanded better pay and better conditions. In 1969 and 1970 there were over 440 hours of strikes in the region. The decrease in the flow of labour migration from Southern Italy had resulted in nearly full employment levels in the northern part of the country.