The June 20 nationwide strike in Spain, the first such action in that country in eight years, was a response to moves to exclude sections of the working class from the system of unemployment benefits. A new unemployment law decreed by Spanish prime minister José María Aznar, head of the Popular Party, cuts wage payments to workers fired by their employers while labor courts rule on their appeals. The measure also limits the number of offers a job-seeker can reject without losing unemployment benefits, and phases out payments to seasonal farm workers.

According to union officials, 10 million workers joined the general strike. Auto plants, including those run by Citroen, Renault, Nissan, and Ford, were idled. The walkout shut down domestic and international transport, affecting hundreds of flights on the eve of the European Union (EU) summit meeting in Seville.

Rail traffic was halted for the day, along with taxis and buses. There were no high-speed train services between Madrid and Seville, and only one ferry crossed the Strait of Gibraltar, instead of the usual 15 per day.

The actions were called jointly by Spain’s two major trade union federations, the Workers Commissions and the General Workers Union, which together represent 2 million workers. Union organizers reported that Seville was entirely shut down as 100,000 people marched through the city.

Trade unionists in the country’s northern Basque and Navarre regions downed their tools a day before the general strike. Workers placed barricades across roads and railway lines.

Thousands of unionists marched through the streets of the major towns of Vitoria, San Sebastian, and Bilbao in actions that both emphasized the region’s separate national identity and common struggle against Spain’s capitalist ruling class. "We have demonstrated once again that this is not part of Spain," said Jose Elorrieta, head of the ELA, one of the major Basque nationalist unions.

The official unemployment rate in Spain is nearly 13 percent. Some areas, like Extremadura and Andalusia, among the nation’s poorest regions, have substantially higher unemployment rates.

Workers have seen their real wages decline under the impact of austerity measures promoted by the bosses and the government. "In 10 years I’ve lost a lot of purchasing power," said Juan de la Cruz, a bricklayer participating in the march in Seville. "I was supporting four children 10 years ago, and now with only two left at home I can barely make it to the end of the month."

An offensive by the bosses over the past decade has led to a steep decline in the number of workers affiliated to the trade unions. One aspect of this assault has been the employers’ expansion in the use of low-paid "temporary" workers. Today, out of a Spanish labor force of 16 million people, fewer than 2 million are union members.

At the end of the 24-hour work stoppage, union officials speaking at a large rally in Madrid vowed that there would be further job actions if the government did not back down from their attacks on unemployment benefits.  
 
Metalworkers and judges strike in Italy
In Italy, unions conducted a series of eight-hour strike actions June 21. The walkouts by transit workers halted bus and tram service in major cities throughout the country, including Rome, Naples, and Milan. The workers demanded wage increases to match inflation and a halt to government plans to change labor laws that would make it easier for employers to fire workers. In addition, Italy’s largest union, the CGIL, called its factory members out for four hours in Lombardy and Campania.

A day earlier, Italian prosecutors and judges staged their first strike in 11 years in opposition to government plans to reform the judiciary laws. The magistrates objected to a provision in the new law, which is being promoted by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, to give parliament some powers to set the agenda for prosecutors--a move, they argued, that would interfere with the judiciary’s independence.

The same day as the general strike in Spain, thousands of workers in Portugal marched against the austerity measures being promoted by the government, which include steps to privatize parts of the social security and pension programs. Similarly, in Greece, workers have been taking to the streets in a series of strikes in opposition to a new law enabling the capitalist rulers to further cut into the social wage (see article below).

In France, the country’s third-largest trade union federation has threatened to strike if the newly elected government there attempts to increase the duration of pension payments by civil servants before retirement.  
 
Air traffic controllers strike
Air traffic controllers in five European countries walked off the job June 19, forcing airlines to cancel most flights in France and disrupting air travel in much of the rest of the continent. Unionists in France, Italy, Greece, Portugal, and Hungary called the strike to protest EU plans to restructure the way the air corridors are operated. This was the third such strike since last year, and union officials made clear that it will not be the last.

Unions representing the striking controllers said that the EU’s plan to place European airspace under a single integrated management would jeopardize safety and lead to privatization and job cuts.

The strike had its biggest impact in France, where carriers were able to operate only about 300 of the more than 2,000 domestic and European flights that normally go through Paris each day.  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home