MADRID
SPAIN'S Vice-President Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega said yesterday she expected this coming Wednesday's strike to go normally and that the rights of the public to join, or not join, the industrial action would be respected.
The Unions meanwhile have organised some 100 marches up and down the country for the day of the strike, 29th September, protesting against labour reform laws which have already been passed by Parliament.
The Catholic Church and its lay representaatives are advising Christians who don't want to join the strike or go on marches to wear something distinctively white so that their solidarity with the strikers can be expressed free from external pressure. This option, said the church, will allow people who feel neither directly represented by one side or the other, to make their feelings known. Many Christians, one representative said, are asking themselves how to react to the call to take strike action. He added that one positive response is to take part in supporting society where it is at its weakest.
Following a Central Government meeting on Friday to approve the national budget for 2011, De la Vega announced the setting up of a Monitoring Committee that was to keep a close eye on the running of minimum services for the public on the day of the strike.
The Vice-President said that the Committee will ensure that people have the services made available to them that are due by law.
The main unions of the country, the Workers Commission (CCOO) and the General Workers Union (UGT) have arranged their marches to coincide with European Action Day called by the European Federation of Unions.
The protests, say the unions are against the austerity measures and slashed budgets imposed by Central Government. It is expected that millions of workers will be marching for employment and the growth of the economy. There will be four marches taking place in the Balearic Islands. Yesterday the Balearic University announced its public support for the strike. They are being joined by actors and musicians unions, and cinema technicians. The entertainment world, said a spokesman yesterday, is suffering just as much from budget cuts as the rest of industry and commerce.