General Strike: a 'dance of numbers'

General strike in Seville. EL PAÍS

Transliterating the Spanish phrase baile de cifras, we can come to the conclusion that if you happen to be a union person, the general strike was a magnificent success. If you happen to own a medium to small business,  or you are the discredited head of a rapidly failing tourism group, as well as President of the Confederación Española de Organizaciones Empresariales (CEOE, Confederation of Spanish Businesses) it was a dismal failure. If you happen to be the Minister of Labour, you will avoid giving any numbers at all, lest the next meeting between you and the unions have you arguing uselessly at the negotiating table. That is, if you are still the Minister for Labour, which you might easily not be.

Back to the numbers. Demonstrations yesterday morning had the following attendance figures (no, we don't know which side gave them): Almería 10,000; Cádiz 2,000; Córdoba 20,000; Granada 12,000, Huelva 20,000, Jaén 8,000, Málaga 18,000; and Sevilla, the capital city of Andalucía, 50,000.

Okay, forget it. We'll just go to some bits and pieces we picked up from other media>
Given that we concentrate on the Campo de Gibraltar, we quote El País: "The strike was almost total in the CdeG, especially at the port in Algeciras, where minimal services went scrupulously as planned. The only (reported) incidents were at the doors to the Acerinox steel plant in Los Barrios, where there were confrontations between workers of the morning shift and pickets. Traffic was cut for a time on the A-7 thanks to a strikers' barricade."

Or EuropaSur: "The strike at San Roque Town Hall was taken up by 26% of municipal workers, according to the Council. Mayor Fernando Palma (PP) reported that, as in Cádiz, some municipal buildings had their locks filled with silicone, and others were closed with chains and padlocks. Silicone also found its way into the locks at the Onda Cero radio and TV station in Algeciras."

Strikers tried to close the front door of El Corte Inglés in Algeciras (photo, left, EuropaSur) but were met by a contingent of riot police, who prevented them from their purpose. Shops in general reported a sharp drop in sales.





A selection of incidents around the country (from various media):

'Old Rockers' (somehow defining people, principally male, of a certain age and appearance, musical talent unknown) came out on strike in San Sebastián, in the Basque Country.

Chinese wholesalers in the Cobo Calleja estate in Fuenlabrada, Madrid, closed shop 'just in case'.

Canal Sur, the Andalucía TV channel, stopped broadcasting after midnight.


Beach pickets in Tenerife tried to close the chiringuitos (beach bars) at Playa de las Américas, and others. No idea if they succeeded.

Who's the comedian? A striker confronts a policeman at the front door of El Corte Inglés in Málaga.

One in the eye for Guardiola. A strike poster on an ad for a bank featuring the Barça coach.






In Andalucía, at 7pm yesterday, ten people had been arrested in Sevilla, Almería, Málaga and Córdoba, and three injured in Huelva, where a car was set on fire on the A-92 road

The unions have admitted that the strike was not successful among civil servants. This despite the fact that the central government has dictated a 5% salary cut and a pay freeze for the sector next year.