Spanish unions to hold general strike as part of European union action day

Spain’s two union centers CC.OO and UGT, with the support of some 150 civil society organizations grouped in the Social Summit, are organizing a national general strike on November 14, the European day of trade union action against austerity. It is the second nationwide strike action held by the two union centers this year, a reflection of the government’s stubborn refusal to reverse policy and the European Union’s commitment to inflicting massive social pain in the service of finance.

The unions are demanding that the government reverse the revisions to labour legislation which have shredded collective bargaining, adopt active measures of support for youth and the unemployed who now make up over 25% of the population, and implement a program of investment linked to sustainable job creation to combat the deepening crisis. The unions are also calling on the European Union to drop its aggressive austerity promotion, adopt alternative measures for tackling sovereign debt problems and develop a Europe-wide Social Compact for the crisis and beyond jointly with the European trade union movement.