Today, I will recollect on a wonderfully annoying thing ever so common in Europe: the general strike. I should preface this post by saying that I do support a country's people fighting for their rights, better work conditions, etc. I think it's important to be politically involved, even if it means just being aware of the problems facing a country's government and economy. What I don't really understand, and therefore have a difficult time supporting, is the ways in which some peoples go about fighting for solutions to these problems. While I don't know a whole lot about politics or the Spanish government, I really don't think that having a general strike is an effective way of speaking to the government. For one thing, when the economy is really suffering, unemployment rates are rising, and salaries are lower than most of the other countries in Europe, how does skipping work for a day (and therefore a day's worth of pay), closing down privately owned businesses, or reducing services to "servicios mínimos" prove a point? All I feel that does is hurt the economy and affect your fellow citizens.
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| Protesters in the Plaza del Sol on March 29th, 2012. Photo from El Pais |
But this isn't meant to be a rant about how the Spanish people go on strike to make a point. What they do for their own patria is their business, regardless of whether or not my American attitude agrees with it (and whether or not I get annoyed by the metro running at 30%, just for example). And I do think that it's a good thing that the Spanish people want to be so involved and want to fight for their rights, particularly when it comes to employment. Anyway, mainly I just wanted to mention the general strike last month on March 29th. Spain's unemployment rate is up to 23%, roughly 3.5 million people. Nearly 50% of Spanish youth (I'm not sure if that's people under the age of 25, or 30, or what) are unemployed. Needless to say, Spain is in trouble, and because of that, last December the country elected a new prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, from the Partido Popular (People's Party) after eight years with José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero of the Partido Socialista Obrero Español (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party). Since then, Rajoy has been working to try to get the government and the economy more on track, including several labor reforms that would greatly affect employment for many. Recent changes include laws that would make it easier for employers to fire their employees (who, for example, don't perform up to par; something that was very difficult before), freezing or cutting salaries, and reducing severance pay.
So what does this general strike mean for politically and economically ignorant people like myself? Servicios mínimos, for example. Across the country, those who decided to go on strike stayed home from work and went to demonstrations to protest. Public services, such as public transportation, the postal service, etc. either reduced services to 30% or shut down completely for 24 full hours. I actually had no trouble getting to work on time (I got lucky and didn't have to wait long for either of the two metro lines that I take in the morning), but I heard stories of people who waited 30-45 minutes for a metro, or waited for just as long for a train that never came.
Anyway, if you want to read more about the general strike on March 29th, here are some articles that are sure to be more informative and eloquent that my own post:
CNN
NY Times
The Guardian
