Workers rally across Europe to protest against cuts

Demonstrations planned in Brussels and dozens of European cities against austerity measures


* Ian Traynor in Brussels
* guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 29 September 2010 09.03 BST


The cities of Europe are braced for protests, gridlock and mayhem today as hundreds of thousands of people take to the streets across the continent to demonstrate against assaults on national budgets, public services, and jobs.

In a test of the residual power of trade unions in an era of casino capitalism and cash-strapped government, workers and union members are expected to stage protests in at least a dozen cities across the EU, climaxing this afternoon in a mass rally in Brussels near the EU's headquarters.

About 100,000 people from more than two dozen countries are expected to take part in the biggest protest seen in Brussels in a decade.

Two days before the Spanish government unveils a budget that will slash public spending, unions in Spain are mobilised for the country's first general strike in eight years. Further large protests are predicted in Poland, Portugal, Greece, Ireland, Romania and Serbia.

"This is a crucial day for Europe," said John Monks, general secretary of the European Trades Union Confederation which has organised the Brussels protest. "Our governments, virtually all of them, are about to embark on solid cuts in public expenditures. They're doing this at a time where the economy is very close to recession, and almost certainly you'll see the economy go back into recession as the effect of these cuts take place."

The financial crash two years ago and the hundreds of billions spent to bail out the banks and shore up international capitalism rebounded with a vengeance this year on public purses across Europe, generating a sovereign debt crises in Greece and fears for collapse in Ireland, Spain and Portugal.

The remedy, in Britain and across a Europe that is emerging sluggishly from the worst recession since the 1930s, is generally to take an axe to public spending.

Later today, the European commission is to unveil its latest proposals to rein in public spending across the EU and impose sanctions, fines and political penalties for countries that fail to keep their budget deficits and national debt levels below agreed ceilings, leading to further austerity measures.

"These thousands demonstrating on the street of Brussels today are the hardworking ordinary citizens of Europe who have had to carry too heavy a burden in the aftermath of the economic crisis," said Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, head of the European Socialists party which groups social democratic parties across the EU. "European leaders, using European solutions, must define a new balanced way to recovery that illustrates that the lessons of the crisis have been learned and the burden shared."

But with bankers' bonuses booming again and public spending being savaged, many feel there is little sign of balanced burden-sharing.

"No one should underestimate the sense of injustice that Europe's citizens feel today," José Manuel Barroso, the European commission president, told financiers yesterday.

EU governments are edging towards an agreement on a banking levy which will generate modest amounts of cash used mainly to improve national budgets. There is also talk of a more ambitious "transactions tax" on the financial markets, a "Robin Hood" tax which would be popular with the unions and the left.

"The financial sector has benefited from a lot of solidarity, and it is time to return the favour by showing great responsibility," Barroso said. "That means making a fair contribution to cover the costs the sector has incurred for the taxpayer."

But there is great scepticism among policy-makers about the chances of making a Robin Hood tax work, or of getting a global agreement.

The transaction tax is being discussed by European governments, but with little enthusiasm, an EU finance minister told the Guardian.

"Is it true it's impossible today? Yes," he said. "It's very difficult to organise. But we're discussing it because of the political pressure. You read about it all the time in the papers, the banks must pay."

Barring periodic protest in Greece at the government's radical overhaul of budgets and public services and opposition on the streets in France to pensions and retirement age reforms, the public response to austerity packages has been generally muted.

Hungary and Latvia were struck by the economic and financial crisis two years ago and embarked on huge cuts in public spending and services with only minor outbreaks of unrest.

Opinion polls in Spain indicate a small minority of union members will take part in today's general strike.

Union membership across Europe has declined sharply in recent years and is now largely confined to the state sector.

Europe's day of protest is intended as a show of union power staging a comeback, but may prove a noisy damp squib, a demonstration of angry impotence.

Workers rally across Europe to protest against cuts | World news | guardian.co.uk

Originally Posted by contracycle

"No one should underestimate the sense of injustice that Europe's citizens feel today," José Manuel Barroso, the European commission president, told financiers yesterday.

Then, maybe, you should do something about it?

Quote:

"Is it true it's impossible today? Yes," he said. "It's very difficult to organise. But we're discussing it because of the political pressure. You read about it all the time in the papers, the banks must pay."

Why is it impossible to organise? Who is blocking the progress? If it is the UK, we do have a problem. If it is a non-EU entity (i.e. the US), it's not entirely unsolveable. It obviously would be 10x better if they joined but we can threaten to revoke the right of any banks to trade on EU soil or trade EU securities that does not play ball. That ought to make banks take notice...

Quote:

Europe's day of protest is intended as a show of union power staging a comeback, but may prove a noisy damp squib, a demonstration of angry impotence.

Most likely. And, to note, again, the protected and rather cushied public worker is used as a canal for private sector workers' frustrations.

But private sector workers should remember than public sector workers gaining new rights or defending their pensions with their support does fuck all for them. It's time to be a bit bolder...

__________________
Unless otherwise specified, I am posting as a regular poster. When I will act as a mod, I'll make sure you're in no doubt.

Originally Posted by Gilles de Rais

Most likely. And, to note, again, the protected and rather cushied public worker is used as a canal for private sector workers' frustrations.

We'll see. And the public sectior is only "protected" inasmuch as its unions are stronger. The sort of scapegoating you describe is precisely why mutual solidarity is the critical issue.

Quote:

But private sector workers should remember than public sector workers gaining new rights or defending their pensions with their support does fuck all for them. It's time to be a bit bolder...

Of course it does; it establishes a standard. Every time one set of workers are defeated, all others workers lose, and vice versa. Workers of the world, etc.

Picketers clash with police in Spanish general strike

AP

Wednesday, 29 September 2010


Picketers hurled eggs at buses and blocked trucks from delivering produce to wholesale markets as Spanish workers went on a general strike today.

The protest is against austerity measures imposed by a government struggling to slash its budget deficit and overcome recession.

Striking workers braving a pre-dawn chill staged a sit-in outside a garage housing buses in the capital Madrid, screaming "scabs" at drivers trying to get out on to the road in the country's first general strike since 2002.

Some strikers scuffled with police, and Spanish National Radio reported 11 people injured nationwide.

"We are here to explain to our colleagues the reason for the strike and urge them to take part and not work," said one striker, Mercedes Ramirez, amid a din of whistles and bullhorns.

As day broke, Madrid's Barajas Airport was free of protesters, although unions have said they want to severely limit domestic and international flights. The national aviation authority AENA said 70% of the country's air traffic controllers are expected to show up for work.

Strikers wearing red shirts and waving flags roamed the streets of Madrid from midnight, urging bars to shut down and night-owl customers to leave.

Binmen honoured the strike, with bags of rubbish lying uncollected in the streets.

Protesters prevented trucks from delivering fruit, vegetables, meat and fish to the main wholesale markets in Madrid, Barcelona and other major cities.

The stoppage marks a bitter split in the close relationship between unions and Spain's socialist government, which is struggling with a 20% jobless rate and a bloated deficit that has prompted market worries it might end up in the kind of dire straits that forced a massive bailout for Greece.

The austerity measures include wage cuts for civil servants, a freeze on most retirement pensions and labour market reforms that make it easier and cheaper for companies to lay people off.

A government website set up to provide information on the strike said there no were no major incidents to report. It said that in the first hour of the strike, electricity consumption in Spanish industry was down 15%.

Several regional television stations interrupted broadcasts shortly after midnight as staffers honoured the strike.

Newspapers were also affected, with Wednesday's editions running fewer pages.

Meanwhile in Belgium, around 100,000 workers are preparing to march on European Union institutions in Brussels.

The march could be one of the biggest in the capital for years. It will coincide with the European Commission making proposals to punish member states that have run up deficits, often by funding social and employment programmes.

The unions fear workers will become the biggest victims of a crisis set off by bankers and traders, many of whom had to be rescued by massive government intervention.

Picketers clash with police in Spanish general strike - Europe, World - The Independent

A protester sprays paint on a public bus driving along Madrid's Gran Via. Photograph: Victor R Caivano/AP



Police car on fire in Barcelona; Photograph: Josep Lago/AFP/Getty Images


Belgians parodying Sarkozy and Bruni; Photograph: Thierry Roge/Reuters



Spanish police break up a picket line that had entered a shop in Santiago de Compostela, Spain Photograph: Lavandeira Jr/EPA

European day of action against cuts: live updates | World news | guardian.co.uk

Spanish unions consider Sept 29 for general strike spain strike sept ? Spanish Vida