15/11/2012 00:00
TW
0

Palma.—By the time many of you read this, the strike will have been under way for hours having started at midnight last night.
And yesterday, union officials were targeting dole and unemployment offices in a bid to encourage the thousands out of work in the Balearics to join today marches and pickets across the region.

The unions have been preparing for today's general strike for months the implications are going to be felt across Europe, no less by air passengers with the repercussions of today's flight cancellations expected to rumble on for at least three days.

The wave of anti-austerity anger breaks across Europe today, with general strikes here in Spain and in neighbouring Portugal spearhead a day of stoppages and mass protest.

Growing angst over public spending cuts and tax increases is being exposed in particular in debt-struck eurozone economies already suffering high unemployment and recession.

Rallying behind slogans such as “They are taking away our future!” and “There are the guilty, there are solutions!” Spain's main CCOO and UGT unions have called the second general strike in eight months.

Dozens of protests by unions and activists are planned across Spain, the fourth-biggest eurozone economy, which is tightening its belt as it ponders seeking a sovereign rescue.

Activists called on social networks for an evening rally outside the parliament in Madrid. The government said police in the capital would ensure lawmakers can do their jobs.

The action comes as Spain's right-leaning government and Socialist opposition are discussing how to combat a surge in homeowner evictions, blamed for two suicides in just 15 days.

Many banks have agreed to stop evictions unless the situation is extreme.
Here in the Balearics, minimum services have been agreed but people are going to find it frustrating if they plan on using public transport today while parents are going to have to drive their children to state schools because the school bus services are not going to be running.

A minimal amount of coaches will be operating to transport tourists to and from the airport and their accommodation but even yesterday afternoon, taxi services were unsure of what their plan of action was going to be with all sectors under massive pressure to bring the region to a stand still, much to the local government's anger.