There were huge jams tousled in central Madrid on Thursday, as citizens of Spain kicked off their first strike in more than a year, leaving nine people faintly injured in demonstrations, including police officers, according to the Interior Ministry. Cristina Diaz, an Interior Ministry official, said that 58 people have been detained. Dozens of union members protested outside the Agriculture Ministry before dawn, while dozens of riot police were on hand. The Spanish unions are reportedly protesting the new conservative government’s labor reforms and austerity cuts.
The strike is the first general strike against the government of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, who was elected in November and entered office in December, amid Spain’s deep economic crisis. The jobless rate in Spain is roughly 23 percent overall and nearly 50 percent for youth. Nearly 5.3 million of 47 million Spaniards are out of work. Spain’s two main unions, the Socialist-leaning General Workers Union (UGT) and the Communist-leaning Workers Commissions (CCOO), made plans to disrupt public transportation and major industry, causing rush hour to go well beyond the regular,which then disallowed people to get to work. Spain’s last general strike was in September 2010, and since then, the country’s economic crisis has deepened. The government reports that the latest labor reforms are needed to bring flexibility to the workplace and to simplify the rules for employers. Unions oppose and say the effect will be to make it easier and less costly to fire workers. The theme set by the unions’ strike is “They want to end labor and social rights and finish off everything.”
