Huelgamania

Now, I will admittedly say that I am not the expert when it comes to things like strikes, labor unions etc. (Ironically I was forced to present a lesson on 'Labor unions in the United States', which was followed by a Q and A of how labor unions work. Side note- the common misconception seems to be that because I know English, I should be a fountain of knowledge on about any topic- as long as the conversation is in English.) So anyway, these are just my personal thoughts and observations about the strike of March 29 (29M).

I had never personally seen or been affected by a strike until I came to Spain- here, I swear they happen at least once a month. Spain is infected with what one friend likes to call “huelgamania” (Strike-mania). Usually I really only know that a strike is happening because I get the day off school or I have to wait extra long for the bus to come. However, this one was much different.

First of all, about 4 months ago, a new and more conservative government was put into place. Recently, this government passed new labor laws that the people are not happy with. I don’t know all the details, but one of the main changes that upset people is that now bosses have the ability to easily hire and fire people at will, without providing a good reason. A worker can be fired missing too many days of work for health reasons- regardless of whether they have had something serious like a heart attack or are struggling with a difficult pregnancy. Also, there were some budget cuts that people were not happy with.

Poster advertising a general strike for March 29

Therefore, BOTH of the 2 main labor unions in Spain decided to call for a general strike to protest. They call this strike the strike for the 99 percent- the 99 percent are composed of the working man and woman, with the 1 percent being the government officials and politicians. Everyone who has a job or has worked in the past was called to participate in the strike. 

The effects of this particular strike were extremely wide-spread. Transportation was a huge mess. All public transport was put on minimum service, so when there are typically 20 or so trains that go between El Puerto and Cadiz, on 29M there were only 5. Therefore, I had to catch a train one and a half hours early to work. When I arrived with time to kill I decided to walk around town for a bit, but the town was completely deserted- it looked like a ghost town (but a ghost town covered in trash, seeing as how the garbage men also decided to strike.)

I think that Cadiz felt the least of the strike. I spoke to a friend in Madrid who said that people there had gone crazy. There was graffiti all over the place, the ATMs had been vandalized, and there was just general madness.

Even the children accept it without wonder or question. When discussing one of the absent children one of my classes, one of the little girls just shrugged her shoulders and said, “Bueno. La Huelga.” As if it is the most normal thing in the world for a 6 year old to be able to “go on strike” from his English lessons… Of course; I understand her point. The strike disrupted the lives of almost everyone in one was or another.  

I have to wonder about the effectiveness of all these strikes. The people I talked to didn't seem to have much hopefulness that any changes would be made. I suppose sometimes people simply need a way to be able to express themselves. But, after seeing all of the negative aftereffects -trash in the streets, protesting mobs, graffiti, money spent on flyers, posters, and stickers, and not to mention the economic disruption of a normal working day- I have to question if it is worth it or not. Is this really the right way to "fight" for your rights?