As José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero stood listening to the barrage of booing and shouts for him to resign while he attended the October 12 national festivities in Madrid, the idea of enduring this kind of vitriol until 2016 can hardly have been appealing. And yet, although the prime minister is going through by far his toughest spell since taking office in 2004, he has still not announced whether he will run for a third term. Even King Juan Carlos expressed his annoyance at the abuse voiced at the military parade and the government attributed it to elements of the extreme right. However, while Zapatero has heard it before, the boos ringing in his ears this year represent widespread anger at … [Read more...] about No end in sight to Zapatero’s succession dilemma
Spain general strike
Spain’s general strike: too much, too late
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
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