Trade unions in southern Europe have this week ramped up their efforts to block deficit cutting austerity plans, announcing strikes, protest rallies and most recently efforts to unify their action across borders.
Italy’s 6-million strong CGIL union announced a nationwide stoppage on June 25 to be preceded by protest rallies around the country two weeks earlier, while Greece’s private sector union GSEE said it would strike next month against pension reform.
While Portugal’s largest labor group girded for a mass protest through the streets of Lisbon yesterday, Spain’s unions kept up their threat of a general strike as talks with the socialist government over labor reform remained deadlocked.
Pressure on Madrid to push ahead with the reforms grew on Friday after ratings agency Fitch cut Spain’s sovereign debt rating, causing markets to tumble. The unions have already promised a public sector strike over pay cuts.
As workers resist government attempts to push through painful budget cuts, the leader of Greece’s GCEE said he would lobby counterparts around Europe to take joint action, a call quickly supported by Italy’s left-wing CGIL.
“In this moment we need initiatives at a European level,” CGIL leader Guglielmo Epifani said on Friday, adding this would be his union’s position at a meeting of unions in Brussels on Tuesday.
Portugal’s CGTP union confederation said its rally this weekend was only the first step in protest at an austerity plan including tax hikes and a freeze on civil servants’ pay.
“It’s a stage of a continuous struggle that will intensify,” Armenio Carlos, a member of the CGTP’s national leadership committee, said. “We’re leaving all options open, including calling a national general strike.”
Analysts say the chances of coordinated protests across Europe are slim. They point to divisions in trade union movements in some countries, while in northern Europe voters already angry at having to bail out Greece are unlikely to tolerate disruptions caused by any show of solidarity.
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