Photos: General Strike Called For In Spain

Spain, the eurozone’s fourth-largest economy where one in four workers is unemployed in a deep recession, is calling its second general strike in eight months to protest draconian budget cuts. Spain’s main CCOO and UGT unions urged people to rally under slogans such as “They are taking away our future!”, deploying pickets during the night at airports, bus and railway stations.

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A protester shouts slogans in front of an open shop as police stand guard during a general strike in Madrid, Spain, Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2012. Spain's main trade unions stage a general strike, coinciding with similar work stoppages in Portugal and Greece, to protest government-imposed austerity measures and labor reforms. The strike is the second in Spain this year. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)

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Policemen guard a Bankia bank with a graffiti reading ''Assassins" during a general strike in Madrid, Spain, Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2012. Spain's main trade unions stage a general strike, coinciding with similar work stoppages in Portugal and Greece, to protest government-imposed austerity measures and labor reforms. The strike is the second in Spain this year. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)

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Protesters shout slogans during a general strike in Madrid, Spain, Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2012. Spain's main trade unions stage a general strike, coinciding with similar work stoppages in Portugal and Greece, to protest government-imposed austerity measures and labor reforms. The strike is the second in Spain this year. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)

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Protesters burn tires at the main entrance to Mercabarna, the biggest wholesale market, during a general strike in Barcelona, Spain, Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2012. Spain's main trade unions will stage a general strike, coinciding with similar work stoppages in Portugal and Greece, to protest government-imposed austerity measures and labor reforms. The strike will be the second in Spain this year. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

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Members of the Workers' Trade Unionist Federation (USO), the Comisiones Obreras trade union (CCOO) and the General Union of Workers (UGT) wave banner as they gather at the Puerta del Sol in Madrid on November 13, 2012, on the eve of a general strike.Spain, the eurozone's fourth-largest economy where one in four workers is unemployed in a deep recession, is calling its second general strike in eight months to protest draconian budget cuts. Spain's main CCOO and UGT unions urged people to rally under slogans such as "They are taking away our future!", deploying pickets during the night at airports, bus and railway stations. DOMINIQUE FAGET/AFP/Getty Images

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Workers from Telefonica phone company take part in a demonstration blocking the traffic and protesting against the unjustified dismissals at their company ahead of a general strike in Barcelona Spain, Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2012. Spain's main trade unions will stage a general strike, coinciding with similar work stoppages in Portugal and Greece, to protest government-imposed austerity measures and labor reforms. The strike will be the second in Spain this year. The masks reads in Spanish: "I am a profitable person". (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

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A member of the Mortgage Victims' Platform (PAH) stands outside Spanish nationalized lender Bankia headquarters, where protesters have camped for more than three weeks, in Madrid November 13, 2012. REUTERS/Juan Medina

http://photos.mercurynews.com/2012/11/13/photos-general-strike-called-for-in-spain/#name here

#14N: General Strike!

http://europeanstrike.org/

Cannot find anything specific on Portugal yet, so some music, Os Vampiros


http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=ZUEeBhhuUos

'they eat everything and leave nothing'

Anti-austerity strikes sweep southern Europe

http://s1.reutersmedia.net/resources/r/?m=02&d=20121114&t=2&i=674265746&w=&fh=&fw=&ll=700&pl=300&r=CBRE8AD12IY00

MADRID/LISBON | Wed Nov 14, 2012 8:52am EST

MADRID/LISBON (Reuters) - Police and protesters clashed in Spain and Italy on Wednesday as millions of workers went on strike across Europe to protest against spending cuts they say have made the economic crisis worse.

Hundreds of flights were cancelled, car factories and ports were at a standstill and trains barely ran in Spain and Portugal where unions held their first coordinated general strike.

In Spain, 81 people were arrested after scuffles at picket lines and damage to storefronts. Riot police in Madrid fired rubber bullets at protesters.

In central Rome, students stoned police in a protest over money-saving plans for the school system. A few dozen protesters, hurling bottles and large firecrackers, clashed with riot police, who fired tear gas and dragged away at least one bleeding protester into a police van, a Reuters witness said.

International rail services were disrupted by strikes in Belgium and workers in Greece, Italy and France demonstrated as part of a "European Day of Action and Solidarity".

It was the biggest Europe-wide challenge by organized labor to austerity policies that have aggravated recessions and mass unemployment in nearly three years since the start of the euro zone's debt crisis. But it seemed unlikely to force hard-pressed governments to change their cost-cutting strategies.

In Portugal and Greece - both rescued with European funds and under strict austerity programs - the economic downturn sharpened in the third quarter, data showed in Wednesday.

Portuguese unemployment jumped to a record 15.8 percent while next door, in Spain, one in four of the workforce is jobless. [ID:nL5E8ME3G3] Greece's economic output shrank by 7.2 percent on an annual basis in the third quarter as the debt-laden country staggers towards its sixth year of depression. [ID:nL5E8ME4WM]

Close to 26 million people are unemployed in the European Union while governments take aim at spending on treasured universal health care and public schools.

"Everybody has to do something to call attention to what's happening," said Esteban Quesada, 58, a hardware store owner in Barcelona who closed his shop to join the protests in Spain's second city.

"Things have to change... Money has ended up with all the power and people none. How could this happen?"

Spain, Portugal and Greece have all slashed spending on pensions, public sector wages, hospitals and schools. But frustration has mounted as the cuts aggravate the economic downturn. In Spain, most of the savings have been gobbled up to meet higher interest payments on the national debt, swollen by the cost of rescuing banks after a real estate bubble burst.

The tax rises and spending cuts are aimed at putting public finances back on a healthy track after years of overspending. In Spain, a decade-long building boom collapsed, leaving airports, highways and high-rise buildings disused around the country.

Germany's central bank, the Bundesbank, said in a report on Wednesday that the euro zone debt crisis is still the number one risk to German banks and insurers, and the situation had not improved from last year.

Pledges from the European Central Bank to support sovereign bond prices for countries that seek aid have brought some relief to Spain and Italy in the capital markets.

On Wednesday Italy sold 3-year bonds at the lowest borrowing cost in two years.

SPAIN TO STAY THE COURSE

While several southern European countries have seen bursts of violence, a coordinated and effective regional protest to the austerity has yet to gain enough traction to significantly shift policy.

Spanish Economy Minister Luis de Guindos told reporters on Wednesday the government would stay the course with spending cuts to meet ambitious deficit cutting targets, despite the strike. ID:nL5E8MCATZ]

"We're on strike to stop these suicidal policies," said Candido Mendez, head of Spain's second-biggest labor federation, the General Workers' Union, or UGT.

Mendez said turnout for the strike - the second one this year - was massive, with turnout in the public sector well above 50 percent. The government minimized the impact, saying many services were functioning normally.

Passions were inflamed when a Spanish woman jumped to her death last week as bailiffs tried to evict her from her home. Spaniards are furious at banks being rescued with public cash while ordinary people suffer.

In Portugal, which took an EU bailout last year, the streets have been quieter than in Greece or Spain but public and political opposition to austerity is mounting, threatening to derail measures sought by Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho.

His centre-right government was forced by protests to abandon a planned increase in employee payroll charges, but replaced it by higher taxes.

Passos Coelho's policies were held up this week as a model by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is despised in much of southern Europe for insisting on austerity as a condition of her support for EU aid.

"I'm on strike because those who work are basically being blackmailed into sacrificing more and more in the name of debt reduction, which is a big lie," said Daniel Santos de Jesus, 43, who teaches architecture at the Lisbon Technical University.

Some 5 million people, or 22 percent of the workforce, are union members in Spain. In Portugal about a quarter of the 5.5 million strong workforce is unionized.

Major demonstrations were planned for the evening in Madrid, Lisbon, Barcelona and other cities.

ARRESTS, FLIGHTS CANCELLED

Protesters jammed cash machines with glue and coins and plastered anti-government stickers on shop windows around Spain. Power consumption dropped 16 percent with factories idled.

More than 600 flights were cancelled in Spain alone, mainly by Iberia and budget carrier Vueling. Portugal's flag carrier TAP cancelled roughly 45 percent of flights. Trains, subways and busses in both countries were severely curtailed, but many retail shops were open as normal.

Italy's biggest union, CGIL, called for a work stoppage of several hours across the country. The transport ministry expected trains and ferries to stop for four hours. Students and teachers were set to march.

In Greece, which saw a big two-day strike last week as parliament voted to approve new cuts, hundreds of strikers rallied peacefully in central Athens, holding aloft giant Italian, Portuguese and Spanish flags and banners proclaiming "Enough is enough."

In France, five trade unions organized marches in more than 100 cities but did not call for a strike.

Left-wing critics of Socialist President Francois Hollande said he has failed to address the concerns of French workers who have the same fears as their counterparts in southern Europe.

"It's an unconditional surrender," hard left leader Jean-Luc Melenchon said on France 2 television.

Every week brings news of fresh job cuts. Spain's flagship airline Iberia, owned by UK-based International Airlines Group, said last week it will cut 4,500 jobs. The prestigious El Pais newspaper just laid off almost a quarter of its staff.

"We have to leave something better for our children," said Rocio Blanco, 47, a railway worker on the picket line at Madrid's main rail station, Atocha.


http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/14/us-eurozone-idUSBRE8AD0UK20121114

General strike under way in Greece - video

Thousands of protesters march through Athens at the start of a 48-hour general strike in protest of new austerity measures. It's the third general strike in six weeks. Two days of demonstrations will culminate in lawmakers voting through new vote on austerity spending cuts and tax increases over the next two years

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2012/nov/06/48-hour-strike-under-way-greece-video

(video at link)


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In related Greek news;

Thessaloniki Mayor Refuses Layoff Order

Thessaloniki’s Leftist Mayor Yiannis Boutaris, who earlier said he could operate the city with half its staff, now has refused government orders to lay off workers as demanded by international lenders, a stance that has other mayors across Greece considering similar resistance.

In a rare act of unity, cities and unions are refusing to comply with demands for layoffs, some 2,000 of which are scheduled by the end of the year and as many as 25,000 more next year. The employees will be put on 75 percent of already-reduced pay and almost certain to be fired after a year.

The Troika of the European Union-International Monetary Fund-European Central Bank (EU-IMF-ECB) has directed Prime Minister Antonis Samaras to carry out the layoffs as a condition of more austerity measures in return for bailouts. Greece has expended a first rescue package of $152 billion and is awaiting a $38.8 billion installment that is the first in a second bailout of $173 billion. That was delayed until the government got approval last week of a $17.45 billion spending cut and tax hike plan but still hasn’t been disbursed.

In the first sign of open defiance, dozens of municipal workers in Thessaloniki staged a protest on Nov. 12. “I have been working for the city for 22 years,” one of the city administration’s 4,000 employees told Der Spiegel, which reported on the rebellion. He requested anonymity for fear of jeopardizing his position even further. “I fear for my job. All of us do.”

A few hours later, city workers and journalists packed inside city hall to observe the City Council meeting which ended with a decision to support Boutaris’s motion to disobey the central government. Boutaris said he would not send the Interior Ministry a list of workers to be dismissed.

Previous promises by the government to create a labor reserve failed miserably: While 15,000 employees should have been placed on reserve by the end of this year, fewer than 100 were transferred, most of them part-time employees, increasing the pressure from the Troika to pick up the pace of layoffs and firings.

Der Spiegel noted that in a rare show of unity in Greece’s infamously partisan politics and tense labor relations, both the national union of municipal employees, POE-OTA, and the Central Union of Municipalities, KEDE, have built up an anti-lay-off campaign. Municipal workers occupied local government offices in Athens, Thessaloniki and other major cities. In some towns, protesters used wooden boards to seal off the personnel offices that hold the names of city workers.

“Both the government and the troika need to realize that such measures decapitate an already castrated local administration,” Boutaris said at the meeting. He was criticized by a former deputy mayor of the city, Nikolaos Tachiaos, who said that, “It is disappointing to see that even mayors like Boutaris who sponsor a modernizing agenda refuse to send the lists.

He added: “Was it not Boutaris who said last year that the city of Thessaloniki can operate ‘with half the staff?’ The message they are sending is that there is a huge gap between words and actions in Greece.”

The head of the Central Union of Municipalities, Kostas Askounis, said no other branch of government in Greece has done as much cost-cutting as the cities, and that any further cutbacks will give the fatal blow to already overstretched local authorities. “More than 3,500 staff have left since 2010,” he said. “Do they want to totally destroy us? Who will teach children in municipal kindergartens? “

Tachiaos said the city’s government is overfilled with needless workers, many of whom are unskilled and offer little and were patronage hires by politicians in return for votes. “Municipalities would hire literally everybody who came knocking,” he said. “The workers who are targeted for the reserve scheme are people with low skills, who took on permanent posts by the mayors through back channels. And they are the same people who booed the City Council politicians who appointed them.” Greek mayors are said to be considering submitting their resignations en masse, an idea to be discussed and decided on at an upcoming union meeting.

http://greece.greekreporter.com/2012/11/14/thessaloniki-mayor-refuses-layoff-order/

Portugal strikes

Thousands of workers have laid down their tools today to join in a general strike which will last until midnight tonight. The worst affected area has been transport, with commuters in urban areas forced to make alternative travel arrangements.

Portugal woke up to another general strike on Wednesday, most noticeable in the transport area, with workers demonstrating against the government’s austerity plans. Sister strikes were also being held in Spain and Italy.

The Federation of Transport and Communications Unions said there was “great participation” of the strikes with the Lisbon underground closed and an almost complete stoppage of the trains, buses and ferries”.

The Lisbon underground closed its doors a bit before midnight Tuesday whereas on normal days the last trains run until 1 o’clock in the morning.

In Lisbon, train operator CP’s most serious problem was vandalism of several trains in Barreiro station that had their brake lines cut.

CP spokeswoman Ana Portela said most minimum service were running though in Oporto 10 or the 14 minimum services were cancelled due to pickets.

The Oporto light rail system was running minimum services even though all union members were out on strike.

The city’s bus company STCP was at a stand still with no buses on the streets.

The leader of the National Bus drivers’ Union, Jorge Costa said he did not know what would happen later in the day as the police were trying to talk the pickets into allowing the minimum services to leave the garage.

Hospitals were also being affected with over 90 percent of the workers on strike at several centres and only minimum services were being guaranteed.

Refuse collection in Lisbon was practically paralysed with only 2 of the usual 121 refuse trucks working the night shift while in other outlying councils the participation was 100 percent.

Portuguese flag-carrier TAP Air Portugal cancelled 173 of the 360 flights it had scheduled for Wednesday, the company announced.

The airline said it hoped to be able to operate more flights than just the minimums ordered by the Arbitration Court.

TAP noted however that the flights also depended on other services like “security, fire-fighters and air traffic controllers”.

Several airlines have said they will cancel flights on Wednesday due to a general strike called by unions in Portugal, Spain and Italy.

TAP Air Portugal had been advising passengers booked on flights on 14 November to alter their flight dates “to avoid inconvenience”.

The airline said that it would only be able to judge “the specific consequences the strike would have on its operations”, on the day.

Eight civil aviation unions have said they will be out on strike on 14 November to “defend Portugal and the workers they represent”.

The Portuguese airport authority ANA said this week it was recommending passengers to confirm any flights booked for Wednesday, the day of a general strike as there would likely be disturbances to air traffic.

http://www.theportugalnews.com/news/portugal-strikes/27139

Great work on putting this together BP. I've been following this closely.

More photos from around Europe

http://media.kansascity.com/smedia/2012/11/14/06/21/412-onlLr.SlMa.55.jpeg

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http://media.kansascity.com/smedia/2012/11/14/12/07/26-eFs6g.SlMa.55.jpeg

http://www.kansascity.com/2012/11/14/3916829/austerity-protests-stall-several.html#slide-21

Italy's anti-austerity protests erupt into violence

Thousands of demonstrators marched in towns and cities all over Italy in support of the anti-austerity action.

The biggest union in the country called its members out on a four hour stoppage.

In Rome, riot police fired tear gas and charged at a breakaway group of students who threw stones near government buildings.

The scenes were repeated elsewhere in Italy too.

At Brescia in northern Italy there were violent clashes between protesters and riot police trying to prevent them from taking over the railway station.

The police failed.

Turin saw what was perhaps the most serious violence. A police officer was seriously injured in clashes outside the local government headquarters there. At least five more police were injured in Milan, though their injuries were less serious.

http://www.euronews.com/2012/11/14/italy-s-anti-austerity-protests-erupt-into-violence/

(Video of police violence at link)

Merkel's response:


"We must nevertheless do what is necessary: break open encrusted labor markets, give more people a chance to work, become more flexible in many areas," German Chancellor Angela Merkel said. "We will of course make this clear, again and again, in talks with the unions."

Her boss agrees:


Philippe de Buck, chief of the EU employers' federation Eurobusiness, said the strike would cost billions of euros and hurt Europe's ability to attract investors.

"If you start striking at national level and in companies you only will harm the economy," he said. "And it is not the right thing to do today."

http://www.ctpost.com/news/world/article/Austerity-protests-stall-several-European-nations-4035540.php#page-2

Great work on putting this together BP. I've been following this closely.

Thanks Kid. Seems to me that the pickings been kind thin, gonna try another search engine.

More pig violence in Spain:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zW2BMVBxc08&feature=player_embedded

#14N: millions join largest European strike ever (source roarmag)

http://medialutte.org/EuropeanStrike/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/14N-Madrid-Main1-500x270.jpg

Europe’s Mediterranean rim trembled on Wednesday as violent clashes broke out following the largest coordinated multinational strike in Europe ever. In the hope to stave off decades of austerity, precarity and unemployment, European labor unions united for the first time since the start of the European debt crisis to organize strikes and protests in a total of 23 EU member states, with millions of workers walking off their jobs and marching on parliament buildings across the continent. Bloody street battles ensued Spain, Portugal and Italy.

In Italy, over 300.000 protested in over 100 cities as workers observed a 4-hour stoppage in solidarity with Greek, Spanish and Portuguese workers. In Milan and Rome, scenes of street “guerriglia” were witnessed as thousands of students clashed with riot police, bringing traffic to a standstill and leading to dozens of injuries. In Sardinia, industry minister Corrado Passera and Fabrizio Barca, minister of territorial cohesion, had to be evacuated by helicopter after angry protesters besieged a meeting and started burning cars all around them.

In Naples and Brescia, thousands of students occupied railway tracks; in Genoa, the entrance to the ferry port was blocked; in Florence, Venice, Trieste and Palermo, banks were smeared with eggs and banners unfurled from monuments; in Padua clashes broke out between students and police; in Bologna 10.000 students took to the streets and attempted to march straight through a line of riot police; and in Pisa protesters occupied the leaning tower, unfurling a banner that read “Rise Up! We are not paying for your Euro crisis!”

Meanwhile, France witnessed protests and strikes in over 100 cities, and Belgian workers marched on the European Commission as railways and air travel ground to a near-complete halt in a nationwide solidarity strike. Modest action was also seen in Greece — which was completely paralyzed during last week’s 48-hour strike — where tens of thousands converged upon parliament carrying Spanish, Portuguese and Italian flags to express their solidarity with fellow Southern European workers.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75QsP-UNgJU&feature=player_embedded

But the most spectacular action was concentrated in the Iberian Peninsula, where violent street battles broke out after both countries were effectively paralyzed by massive general strikes. In Portugal, actions took place in over 30 cities and tens of thousands besieged the parliament building in the evening. Riot police, after being pelted with rocks for hours, violently cracked down on the demonstration, leaving numerous protesters injured. Some locals claimed they had not seen such violence since the days of the dictatorship.

In Spain, over 80 percent of the workforce participated in the country’s second general strike of the year, bringing the country to an effective standstill and putting further pressure on the embattered conservative government of Mariano Rajoy. Hundreds of thousands marched through the streets of Madrid, where barricades of burning trash bins blocked the streets, while in Barcelona protesters set police cars on fire and smeared banks with paint and graffiti. Police responded with brutal force, injuring over 70 and arresting at least 140. A 13-year-old boy in Tarragona was wounded after a police officer struck him in the head with a baton.

And so Southern Europe continues to tremble on its very foundations. As smoke rises from the streets of Madrid, Lisbon, Rome and Athens, one thing is becoming ever more clear: the question is no longer if but when the social explosion will hit. The outrage is building up, and with unemployment rising, austerity deepening, and a generation of Europeans increasingly disillusioned by state intransigence and outraged by police violence, such an outburst of popular rebellion seems ever more inevitable. All it will take is a spark.

http://europeanstrike.org/14n-millions-join-largest-european-strike-ever-source-roarmag/

All it will take is a spark.

Man, this is really moving. Do the owners have big enough armies? I don't think so, not if that spark happens. And in the US, no media coverage, but the workers are starting to shut down companies. No more threats - what can you threaten workers with? Closing you factories? Go ahead, close 'em. Then what? Violence? That's is all the owners got left. But that violence thing, cuts so many different ways...