Unions set minimum services

PALMA
MAIN union representatives in the Balearic Islands were at regional government offices in Palma yesterday, registering the minimum services they are required to provide by law on the occasion of the national general strike scheduled for 29th September.

The General Workers Union (UGT) and the Workers Commission (CCOO) also took the opportunity to request a meeting with the Balearic government before next Friday to begin negotiations over the strike. The UGT leader said the country's financial problems will not be solved by cutting the salaries of ordinary working people but rather in measures such as making those people who currently escape paying huge sums of tax money, give the government what they owe.

Heads of their unions in the Islands, Lorenzo Bravo (UGT), Katiana Vicens (CCOO) and Biel Caldentey (STEI-i) have meanwhile set up a Strikers' Works Committee. The proposals for minimum services on 29th September, however, are not new. They are the same that were instigated when a similar strike was called in June 2002 when Jose María Aznar was still the Spanish Prime Minister.

For schools and other education centres, the head master or mistress are the only personnel required to attend on the strike day but in the case of secondary schools, a ministry representative also needs to be present. In the health service, the Emergency department is required to have the same level of staff as it would on a normal working day, but cleaning services are reduced.