‘With nails and teeth’
Workers protest throughout Spain
By
Caleb T. Maupin
Published Mar 7, 2010 11:02 PM
On Feb. 23, massive demonstrations took place across Spain; 70,000 took to the
streets in Madrid, 50,000 marched in Barcelona and tens of thousands more
joined in ten other cities. The country’s two leading unions organized
these actions to protest Prime Minister Jose Luis Zapatero’s proposed
labor law reforms, especially the plan to raise the retirement age from 65 to
67.
The General Union of Workers (UGT) mobilized across the country. The UGT is
tied to the social-democratic Socialist Workers Party of Spain, of which
Zapatero is a member, and which dominates the Spanish government. The Workers
Commissions (CCOO) also organized; this massive union is influenced by the
Communist Party of Spain. The CCOO raised the slogan, “We are going to
defend with nails and teeth the labor and social rights of the present and
future pensioners,” as a rallying cry to promote and build the protests
throughout Spain.
These were the first large-scale union protests to be mounted against
Zapatero’s government since the prime minister took office in 2004.
Spain has been hit by the capitalist global financial crisis and has a large
deficit and huge unemployment. Zapatero had announced 50 billion euros in
budget cuts and many “reforms,” which are assaults on
workers’ benefits and protections. The government claims the pension
cutback will stimulate the economy and beef up funds in the pension system.
Moreover, it is clearly following the dictates of the European Union, whose
chief, Jose Manuel Barroso, told all EU member states — before the
protests took place — to raise retirement ages on pensions.
A poll conducted by El Pais, a major newspaper in Madrid, showed that 84
percent of Spain’s population did not support raising the retirement age
or any of the government’s other proposed austerity measures. Workers are
angry at the government’s so-called pension reforms and reject the
premise that preventing workers from retiring will help to curb the
country’s unemployment rate; it is already nearly 20 percent, with youth
unemployment at 40 percent.
Fifty-seven more protests are planned to take place throughout Spain until
March 6, to keep up the pressure on the government. Many workers have called
for a general strike to push the government to stop assaults on their pensions
and other attacks on their livelihoods.
Articles copyright 1995-2012 Workers World.
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