On March 29, a day of general strike took place in Spain, organized by Labor Commissions (CC.OO) and General Workers Union, and backed by the great majority of union organizations in the country. The reason for the call: dissatisfaction with labor reform approved by the conservative Popular Party, which has governed the country since its victory in the Nov. 20 election of last year.
For the day, the government and representatives of the UGT and CC.OO unions agreed to set minimum services for all of Spain of 25 percent in public transport, 30 percent in railroad transport, 20 percent in flights between Spain and other European countries and 50 percent in intercontinental flights. According to the government, 800,000 people supported the strike. The unions, which in Spain represent 16.4 percent of the workers, according to official data, raised that number to two million.
What is labor reform?
The labor reform approved by the Popular Party on March 8, has generated unrest amongst the thick of Spanish society. The law features controversial reforms, such as the reduction of compensation for layoff from 45 to 33 days per year worked; the possibility of unilateral modification of work conditions (schedule, salary or place of work) by entrepreneurs; and the possibility that the enterprise implement layoffs from its plant even if it’s profiting. This comes during a complicated time for Spain, as the ministers of economy from the Eurozone have demanded the country reduce its current deficit from 8.5 percent to 5.3 percent over the course of 2012. This will translate into trimming down 35 billion euros in expenses for the State.
The Secretary of Union Action from the Labor Sindical Union, Pepe Vía, declared during the strike that the “labor reform has two clear background questions: the cheapening of layoffs and facilitating it to entrepreneurs.”
The secretary of the third largest union in Spain assured that the reform “will not serve to create employment; a purpose for which, according to the government, it was made.”
The other side of the coin is found in the business sector which, after learning the content of the reform, was shown to be very satisfied. The law gives entrepreneurs more flexibility in decision making within their corporation and eliminates bureaucracy.
What do people think?
The word on the street is divided. On one hand, the left-wing sector and a good part of the middle and lower class in the country believe that trusting in the good faith of entrepreneurs, whom they consider to be directly responsible for the crisis, is a mistake. Many citizens from this sector believe the reforms to be necessary, even though they believe that ceding more freedom to entrepreneurs will only bring more unemployment, loss of well being and class differences. Spain has been suffering harsh cuts since the beginning of the crisis and the government has continued, however, to inject funds into banks and large corporations.
On the other hand the Spanish right wing and a good part of the citizenry, disenchanted by the years of socialist government (2004-2011), is demanding change and considers these tough reforms necessary. This sector largely rejected the strike when considering that a bad time for the Spanish economy was approaching.
The day of protest passed normally in most cities in Spain, except for Barcelona, where various groups damaged to urban infrastructure and around 80 people were detained.
The day was characterized by the traditional presence of picketers, who tried to convince the business owners, to close in solidarity of the people who were doing the strike. The majority of picketers were informative and expressed to employees their feelings about the strike without resorting to violence.
“Today scab, tomorrow unemployed,” chanted various picketers to the owners who refused to close their businesses.
However, some scenes of tension between merchants and picketers were witnessed, due to the refusal of the former to close their businesses. The national police had to intervene in various occasions.
On the other hand, a good number of people who joined the general strike also expressed discontent with their own unions. A sympathizer of the movement, Fernando Alvarez, declared that “the unions do good work for the workers of the country,” but that they “have acted late and searching partly their own interests.”
However you see it, the massive outpour of citizens on the streets strengthened the unions in their position that society is mostly against the labor reform and again demanded the Spanish executive and modification of the law. However, the government has not given its arm to twist and has maintained the reform intact. The unions threaten now with calling for new strikes.