Spanish workers protest at austerity reforms

Unions claimed massive participation in the stoppage protesting at what they claim to be the latest dose of bitter medicine Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s conservative government has prescribed to appease European Union officials and jittery investors watching Spain’s debt grow and its GDP shrink.

The unions demanded a “gesture” from the government to scale back the reforms, warning they could cause more unrest from May 1.

The government quickly said no, however, and downplayed the impact of the strike. “There is no stopping on the path to reform,” Labour minister Fatima Banez said.

Today the Spanish government will serve up even more austerity pain with a 2012 budget to feature tens of billions of euros in deficit-reduction measures.

The cuts are designed to help Spain lower its deficit to within EU limits and calm the international investors who determine the country’s borrowing costs in debt markets – and therefore have a lot of say in whether Spain will follow Greece, Ireland and Portugal in needing a bailout.

On top of a round of spending cuts and tax hikes, and reform of the bank sector, last month prime minister Mariano Rajoy’s newly elected government passed a decree making it cheaper and easier for companies to lay people off, cut wages and modify other working conditions just by citing concerns over, for example, productivity.

The idea behind the decree was to make Spain more competitive once the rest of Europe recovers and employers are less wary of hiring. The jobless rate is nearly 23 per cent, a eurozone high, and nearly 50 per cent among young people.

A total of 58 people were detained and nine were injured in scuffles as the strike got under way a minute after midnight, Interior Ministry official Cristina Diaz said.

Unions are challenging a conservative government not yet 100 days old, protesting the changes to labour market rules long regarded as among Europe’s most rigid.

On the Gran Via, one of the Spanish capital’s main commercial strips, a group of about 500 whistle-blowing pickets marched slowly, blocking traffic for about an hour as police and helmeted riot police watched.

As the group made its way down the boulevard, many merchants – such as jewellers and clothing retailers – pulled down their metal shutters or locked their doors.

One protester, Angel Andrino, 31, said he was laid off a day after the labour reforms were approved last month.

The government argues that while the reforms might hurt now, they will create jobs in the future. Spain is by official estimates already back in recession.

Andrino lives with his parents and brother, the latter the only one to be employed, with a part-time job.

“We are going through a really hard time, suffering,” he said. “The rights that our parents and grandparents fought for are being wiped away without the public being consulted.”

General Workers Union Secretary General Candido Mendez put average participation at midday at 77 per cent but said it was 97 per cent in industry and construction. “This strike has been an unquestionable success,” said Mendez.

One of the strike’s most noticeable effects was on public transport. Airline Iberia, cancelled 65 per cent of its flights.

British Airways said its flights were operating normally but advised passengers to check before heading to the airport. TAP Air Portugal said it cancelled just over half of its 27 scheduled return flights to Spain.

The union UGT said virtually all workers at Renault, SEAT, Volkswagen and Ford car factories around Spain, and at other industrial, mining and port facilities, honoured the strike overnight.