Spanish workers up in arms - 25.02.2010

THOUSANDS of workers protested in Spain’s major cities this week against government spending cuts, and plans to raise the retirement age by two years to 67.

The rallies were the first mass labour protests in the six years since Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero’s Socialist government came to power.

 

 

He announced spending cuts of 50billion euros, and a civil service hiring freeze in January, because of the country’s

 

huge budget deficit, a sluggish economy and high unemployment.

 

 

The main demonstration was in Madrid, where union officials said 60,000 workers gathered. Police put the crowd at a much smaller 9,000 people.

 

 

In a speech at the Madrid rally, union leader Ignacio Fernandez Toxo said: “Mr Prime Minister, don’t play around with pensions, – with the future of millions and millions of people in our country.”

 

Zapatero is also keen to change Spain’s rigid labour laws to make it easier and cheaper to hire workers.

 

 

The country’s rising debt has prompted scrutiny from bond markets, worried about a Greek-style budget crisis.

 

 

But Angel Gurria, head of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), said on Tuesday that Spain’s public debt was manageable and not comparable with that of Greece.