European workers fight capitalist crisis, demand jobs

General strike shuts southern Basque Country

Thousands of workers took to the streets May 21 in the Basque Country, the most industrialized part of the Spanish state, under the slogan “Against the bosses’ extortion.”

They not only took to the streets but they walked off the job. Nearly 53 percent of the plants were shut down and the others experienced major slowdowns.

The big union confederations (CCOO and UGT), the Spanish central government, the new government of the Basque region, and the bosses and their media all opposed this strike, called by two left-wing unions close to the Basque nationalist movement.

Some 15,000 people marched in Bilbao, the capital of the Basque region, 10,000 in San Sebastian and Pamplona, and more than 8,000 in Vitoria.

According to a letter in English from LAB, one of the unions which called the general strike, “The Basque working class, women and men, went to the streets to denounce the capitalist crisis, and to make it clear that those [who demonstrated] and the workers are unwilling to pay [for] the crisis that big capitalists and bankers and the rightist government politicians have generated.”

Autoworkers on the move

The consolidation of Europe’s auto industry drew some sharp responses from unions in England, Italy and France, whose members took the streets in mid-May to demand that the government put the needs of workers for jobs ahead of the needs of the banks and stock markets for profits.

In Birmingham on May 16, Unite—England’s largest union—called a national march in this one-time manufacturing center. Thousands of workers in every sector of the economy marched in the rain, in the first demonstration that the unions have called in 30 years, demanding that the government protect jobs.

Derek Simpson, joint general secretary of Unite and the leader of Britain’s main auto workers’ union, said, “Billions have been spent to save the banks but those same banks are still throwing people out of their houses when they can’t meet their mortgage payments because of a recession those very banks caused.” Simpson accused the banks that won’t lend to manufacturers of taking “food from the mouths of our families” and “threatening our jobs and homes.” (Xinhua, May 17)

Over 15,000 workers, mainly from Fiat and its subcontractors, also marched on May 16 in the Italian city of Turin, a major manufacturing center in northern Italy. Fiat is the largest private employer in Italy with 82,000 workers.

Most of them came from assembly plants in southern Italy, where opposition to Fiat’s plans has been sharp. Workers at the Fiat plant in Palermo, Sicily, held a short strike on May 11. They want their jobs guaranteed, even if Fiat acquires Opel, the Germany-based subsidiary of GM, and Chrysler.

The workers began their march at Fiat’s Mirafiori factory and walked toward the company’s headquarters, the BBC reported.

“We are Fiat. Fiat must not expand without us!” was the main slogan of the march. (Swiss Radio.)

A few days later in Paris, 700 Continental rubber workers marched—with smoke flares and fire crackers—from the Gare du Nord railroad station to the stock exchange. Their lead banner read, in French and German, “Workers united against stock market thieves.”

As they marched they threw Continental tires high into the air. When they reached the stock market, they made a bonfire from the tires they carried. (AFP—Agence France Press.)

Xavier Mathieu (CGT) said at the rally, “The stock exchange is where the sweat of the world’s workers is for sale.”

Negotiations between Continental, a German company, and the French unions representing the workers at their French plant in Clairois were scheduled to start later that afternoon. The workers are demanding they be paid through 2012 and get additional compensation for losing their jobs.

European workers demand jobs

Hundreds of thousands of workers took part in a series of demonstrations following the appeal of the European Confederation of Unions to demand “priority for jobs.” More than 350,000 workers marched in the streets of Madrid, Brussels, Berlin and Prague between May 14 and 16. In a declaration read on May 16, CES General Secretary John Monks said: “The scope of these European demonstrations reveals the growing preoccupation of the workers with their future. ... We urgently need a stronger regulation of the financial markets and a reinforcement of the influence of workers in administrative councils. The workers also want programs supporting industry and jobs as well as ambitious means to fight against the growing unemployment.” (Avante, May 21)

Thousands in Lisbon demand relief from economic crisis. Photo: PCP

Portugal–85,000 march in Lisbon

Called out by the Democratic Unity Coalition (CDU), some 85,000 people marched through Lisbon, Portugal, on May 23 in anticipation of the upcoming election to the European Parliament and in response to the capitalist economic crisis that has driven many Portuguese workers into deep poverty.

The CDU is an electoral coalition of the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP) with the Ecology Party—Greens (PEV). Jerónimo de Sousa, general secretary of the PCP, sharply criticized the so-called Socialist Party regime led by José Sócrates, which he accused of plundering the national wealth for the narrow interests of a small minority. (Junge Welt, May 25)

Spain: Anti-imperialist party restored to ballot

After the Supreme Court in the Spanish state had removed the new coalition party, International Initiative—Solidarity among the Peoples (II-SP), from the ballot for the European parliamentary elections, on May 21 the Constitutional Court reversed that decision following broad protests. II-SP is an anti-imperialist coalition of both federal and regional organizations. II-SP supports an anti-capitalist program to confront the capitalist economic crisis and supports self-determination for the oppressed peoples of the Spanish state, including those of the Basque Country (see article in WW, May 28).