Spain mobilizes for employment

USPA NEWS - The two main unions in Spain, UGT and Comisiones Obreras (CCOO its acronym in Spanish) held May 1 the International Labor Day with demonstrations in 80 cities under the slogan 'So we do not get out of the crisis. Those are the first.'

Moreover, these two unions called 12 protest concentrations. This 2015 is the 125th anniversary of May 1 held in 1890 and was the first Labor Day. This year, the two main trade unions in Spain denounced "waste" of austerity policies and its devastating effects on employment, social cohesion and quality of life. Among its claims to reverse the situation, the UGT and CCOO unions called a minimum income for 1,800,000 Spanish households with all members unemployed.

Speaking to Spanish public radio, the general secretary of UGT, Candido Mendez, and CCOO, Ignacio Fernandez Toxo, valuing agreed that "out of the crisis is to improve the purchasing power of workers to boost consumption" as well as boosting public investment and increased quality employment. In his opinion, "the fact that we come out of recession does not mean we're out of the crisis."

Both leaders led the major demonstration in Madrid. After the protest banner, the secretary general of the UGT, Candido Mendez, said the May 1 holiday is not "a thing of the past" but the essence of what is advocated in 1890 continues in the XXI century Spain: equitable redistribution of wealth. "Spain can not rely on going out of recession when millions of households in crisis," Mendez said, adding that "Spain will emerge from the crisis when life standards Pre recover."

Unjust laws

In all joint demonstrations of Spain's two main unions they took place. In Logroño, capital of the wine region of La Rioja and one of the communities that traditionally enjoy a higher standard of living, the local secretary of UGT, Jorge Ruano, blamed the austere laws of the PP government "all the problems we have workers ". There are "unjust laws," he said and warned that on 24 May, when local and regional elections in Spain are held, "democracy will not be complete if those who are elected do not listen to the workers." Politicians and businessmen, he said, "believe they have the power. They have the money, but the power we have them." His counterpart CCOO, Beatriz Antoñanzas, claimed the recovery of "the dignity of workers".