Huge Rally in Madrid for Right to Strike

International Trade Union Confederation
ITUC OnLine
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Huge Rally in Madrid for Right to Strike

Brussels, 4 July 2014 (ITUC OnLine):

Thousands of Spanish workers have taken part in a rally in Madrid to protest at the arrest and possible imprisonment of several hundred workers for taking part in strike action. Spanish prosecutors are initiating cases against 260 workers who have taken part in recent strike actions. Dozens of them are threatened with prison sentences totalling some 120 years.

The Rally, under the slogan “To Strike is not a Crime: We will not be silent”, was addressed by ITUC President Joao Felicio, along with Ignacio Toxo and Cándido Méndez, Presidents of the ITUC affiliates CCOO and UGT respectively.

Criticising the Spanish government’s alliance with employers, Felicio said that it was trying to make workers pay the costs of the economic crisis. “The right to strike is a human right, which cannot be struck down by any government,” he stated.

“The government’s actions break with decades of respect for the right to strike since the end of the Franco dictatorship. Spain’s working people have the full support of the international trade union movement,” said ITUC General Sharan Burrow.

For more information, see the UGT and CCOO websites:

http://www.ugt.es/actualidad/2014/julio/b01072014.html

http://www.ccoo.es/csccoo/menu.do

ENDS

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