Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Huelga General (National Strike)

Times are tough in the Iberian Peninsula; Spain is boasting a national unemployment rate of almost 23% as of this year, and a whopping 50% for those who are under 25 years of age. The youth are irate as they are being denied control of their future and the future of their country. New labor reforms promise to save money for the country with budget cuts, but also allow the facilitation of firing workers for less money, along with raised taxes for select businesses, and have both the employed and unemployed sharing a similar fervent anger towards the situation in Spain as of late.

29 March showed millions of Spanish protesting all over Spain in a general strike organized by labor unions against the new reform. The entire country had the opportunity to strike -not attend work- if they so pleased, but would have their salary docked as a consequence.

Whether or not the people in Logroño, La Rioja skipped out on work I can't say, but there were definitely  thousands of protesters at 7p.m. rallying and marching across town until later in the evening.

CLICK  THUMBNAILS TO SEE SLIDESHOW AND BETTER QUALITY

General Workers Union

 Avenida de la Paz (Peace Avenue) - Where it all began
 Communists and Anarchists
 The new labor reform was under attack.
 Where there's smoke, there's fire.

 Gorillas in the mist.


 Hangman's quarters
 Young and old, the streets were full.
 "The debts are socialized, but the benefits are privatized" 
 March through the plaza.

 Coffee and a strike.

 The tail end of the strike.

No comments: