From owner-labor-l@YORKU.CA Sat Jun 22 19:00:08 2002
Date: Sat, 22 Jun 2002 15:16:07 -0700
Sender: Forum on Labor in the Global Economy <LABOR-L@YORKU.CA>
From: Labour Welfare Party <lwp@VCN.BC.CA>
Subject: Re: Workers in Spain Strike to Protest Changes in Welfare (fwd)
To: LABOR-L@YORKU.CA

————— Forwarded message —————
Date: Thu, 20 Jun 2002 23:15:07 -0400
From: David Christian <dckomatlcom.net@mindspring.com>
To: UNITED <united@cougar.com>
Subject: Re: Workers in Spain Strike to Protest Changes in Welfare

www.cgt.es

More than enough reasons! General strike!

Confederación General del Trabajo, 22 June 2002

The Reform of Unemployment Protection and the Employment Law imposed by the government means yet another attack on the working class in general and in particular on the most disadvantaged social groups: the unemployed and those with unstable employment. With this reform the PP, the conservative party in national government, is taking giant steps towards making the job market even more precarious:

We are faced with the imposition of a purely neo-liberal economic and social model in which generalised precariousness and the exclusion of wider and wider sectors has become the norm. The government is legislating for the large companies, which it favours so they can increase their profits. Meanwhile the vast majority of society becomes poorer: workers, the unemployed, those with unstable employment, immigrants, young people looking for their first job, women in the hidden economy or working part-time, hourly- and daily-paid workers and farm workers For the CGT, stopping this renewed attack is essential if we do not want our rights to be trodden underfoot. In addition, however, we must fight against other attacks which have not had the necessary response:

2.1% in May with an annual cumulative figure of 3.6%, which is considerably higher than the average of 2.9% pacted in collective agreements). A loss which is especially significant in Public Services employees who earn the minimum wage (the lowest in the EU) and for the lowest salary earners.