Workers across Europe Strike against Austerity Measures

The European trade unions will demonstrate today against the austerity measures adopted recently by many European countries, and will demand recovery plans inclusive of workers and job creation. The protest which is sponsored by the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) is expected to attract more than 100,000 in Brussels alone, the EU capital.

Besides the Euro-demonstration in Brussels, protestors from Portugal, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Czech Republic, Cyprus, Serbia, Romania, Poland, Ireland and France will participate in similar demonstration in their respective countries today. The protest is co-ordinated with a Spanish trade unions’ general strike, the first in eight years, protesting against a 5 percent average reduction in wages this year, part of a government’s austerity cuts worth 15bn euros, passed by a very small majority in Spanish government this year.

Two weeks ago, John Monks, General Secretary of the ETUC while speaking to a trade union gathering in Madrid told cuts in a recession, when unemployment was already high was not acceptable and only hurt the working class. Likewise, the European Commission chief José Manuel Barroso had said, at another occasion, the financial sector should make responsible contribution to meet the costs it passed on to taxpayers as the sector enjoyed solidarity.

About 50 international trade unions are sending representatives to the Brussels march, as many as from 30 countries, which will culminate during the demonstration in the city’s European quarter near the headquarters of the EU Commission and the European Council. The ETUC founded in 1973 represents 82 trade union organizations in 36 European countries, plus 12 industry-based federations.

By Jose Roy