(Brussels, 26 September 2012) This is a crucial week for social mobilisation in Europe. Workers and citizens in several European countries have taken the streets to say no to austerity.
In Portugal and Spain over two million people marched on September 15th. In Lisbon it was the biggest demonstration since the fall of the fascist dictatorship in the 70s and for the first time since austerity has been imposed on people across Europe, a Government has said that it will backtrack and listen to popular outrage. Sunday 29th is expected to be a key day for mobilisation in Portugal as there is another national demonstration organized by the CGTP-IN confederation and several EPSU affiliated unions are joining the call.
On 25th September, in Madrid, thousands of people rallied in response to a call from the ‘indignados’ with the slogan to ‘occupy congress’. The Popular Party government has accused them of attempting a coup d’état!. Trade unions in Spain supported the call and the President of the ETUC and General Secretary of Comisiones Obreras, Ignacio Fernández Toxo, has criticised the comparisons of the peaceful demonstrations that were actually attacked by the police] with the coup d’état of 23 February 1981 in Spain.
Also today in the Basque Country and the Navarre region, several unions including the EPSU affiliated ELA, have organised a one-day general strike against austerity and in the lead up to early regional elections. Below you can see the solidarity message sent to our unions in that region.
Greece has seen its fifteenth one-day general strike against the troika policies that have plunged the country into its worst recession since the second world war. Unemployment and poverty are on the rise and the troika policies are just more austerity. EPSU supports the mobilisation and hopes that this week of struggle will help to change the minds of the political elites in Europe.
On 28 September there will be a a strike across the public sector by two unions, UIL and CGIL who are mobilising with the slogan: "stop hitting the weakest!". The action is in protest at the government’s “spending review” which is the Italian version of austerity. [Read EPSU’s solidarity message.
Last but not least, EPSU affiliate ver.di is supporting a massive public action on 29 September calling for a redistribution of wealth in Germany on 25 September. The leaders called for intensifying the mobilisation in support of the Social Contract as proposed by the ETUC and supported by EPSU.
- EPSU solidarity letter to the Basque Country and the Navarre Region
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