Unions claim the current crisis could spark a “general strike”

PALMA
WITH May Day (Labour Day) celebrations today in the Balearics focusing on people's right to work, union bosses yesterday warned that the unemployment situation is so serious that it could lead to a general strike.

The USO union is organising a protest march today in Palma which will start at 11.30am in the Plaza de España, proceed through a number of streets in the centre of the city and finish at Puerta San Antonio in the Avenidas. Once there, leaders of the march will address marchers which will include workers from beleaguered former Palma-based airline Spanair who have joined the USO from the Workers Commission (CCOO) following fraught negotiations over redundancies. “More than ever,” a USO spokesman said yesterday, “our union is demanding adequate jobs for people with contracts which comply with workers' basic rights.” The banners being carried by the protesters in the streets of Palma today will read: “For employment, social protection and workers' rights.”