The statisticians may argue for some time to come about the success or otherwise of Spain’s general strike. To nobody’s surprise, the UGT and CCOO unions, which organised the country’s first nationwide strike in eight years, described the protest as an overwhelming success, while the government said participation was “uneven”. Judging by Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero’s insouciant demeanour as he entered Congress on the morning of the strike, his government had little to worry about. And yet, the mass closure of businesses for the day, the crippling of the country’s bus services and thousands (or 70 percent, according to the organisers) of workers marching through Spain’s … [Read more...] about Spain’s general strike: too much, too late
Candido Mendez
The strikers who have nothing to protest
There have been a number of signs over the last few months that the general strike called by Spain's two main trade union confederations, UGT and Comisiones Obreras (CCOO), against government economic policy and labour reform is not going to attract as big a crowd as anticipated. The first was that they switched the date of the strike from June to September 29th. The second was when, in late spring, the functionary-specific unions that had invited the leaders of UGT and CCOO, Cándido Méndez and Ignacio Fernández Toxo respectively, to a protest against government pay cuts later declared that neither would be welcome at future demonstrations. UGT and CCOO, it was felt, had attempted to hijack … [Read more...] about The strikers who have nothing to protest