As there are no traditional Labour Day demonstrations, the CCOO and UGT unions have opted for using social media to demand rights for workers and to encourage citizen participation.
With a theme of 'Work and public services; another social and economic model is possible', the general secretaries of the CCOO and UGT in the Balearics - respectively, José Luis García and Alejandro Texías - discussed worker demands via YouTube on Friday morning.
A week ago, when the unions announced how they would be approaching this 'atypical' May Day, Texías stressed that aims would be to recognise the value of working people in society, especially those involved with essential services, and to consider the role of the public in the welfare state.
García said that the day should honour all workers in sectors such as health, the security forces, private security, waste collection, supermarkets and retail, pharmacies, care homes and juvenile centres. He emphasised the role that unionism is playing in the effort to resolve the crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, guaranteeing the safety of workers, with the least loss of employment.
The unions stressed that exiting the crisis will not be like it was with the financial crisis and called for there to be a change to the productive model, a strengthening of social protection and progressive taxation. They denounced the "paradox" of many services which are considered to be essential being ones where workers faced the worst conditions. These are services, they noted, with high levels of female employment.
As well as the YouTube discussion, there was a "virtual demonstration" between 1.30pm and 2.30pm.
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