MALLORCA TODAY - Thousands protest in Palma at end of general strike

The unions say 60,000, the government 50,000, the police between 35,000 and 40,000. Whatever the actual figure, there were more people protesting in Palma yesterday evening than during a similar protest to mark the last general strike in March. The day passed with little by way of incident other than a couple of arrests during an earlier protest and some charges into demonstrators by police.

MALLORCA TODAY - General strike provokes few problems in Mallorca

Though there has been some disruption to services, the general strike has led to few incidents in Mallorca. Two arrests have been made during a protest in Palma, one of them being the spokesperson for a pro-Catalan group. The main unions have put the figure of support at 73%, the regional government at 12.7%.

MALLORCA TODAY - General strike confirmed for 14 November

The joint committees of the main CCOO and UGT unions have confirmed that a national general strike will take place across Spain on 14 November to coincide with the general strike in Portugal and a day of protest throughout Europe organised by the European Trades Union Confederation. The Spanish unions hope that the strike will embrace "all citizens" and that people should be prepared to forego a day's salary in order to signal their protest at government austerity measures.

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has responded by saying that the strike will do nothing for Spain other than harm its image.

MALLORCA TODAY - General strike likely to be 14 November

The main CCOO and UGT unions are to call a national general strike on 14 November (subject to ratification this Friday). The Spanish strike would coincide with the general strike already announced in Portugal.

MALLORCA TODAY - General strike may take place mid-October

Unions and other organisations are considering calling a general strike in mid-October which would be wider than other strikes in that it would also involve businesses and even sporting events.

See more: Diario de Mallorca

Strike! No one noticed

So, another day and another general strike has come and gone. How was this one for you? Did you notice it any more than the last one? It was hard to tell that there was one on. There were two separate rubbish collections, so Muro wasn't on strike in any event. I spent a short time seeking out evidence of strikers, thinking that the port in Alcúdia would be a likely venue for a few pickets. There wasn't a single one, but I had timed my run either too early or too late; there were some and even more police.

There weren't even any chaps with loudhailers and banners roaming along the main road from the Donuts roundabout (Magic) in Puerto Alcúdia, as there had been last time. Possibly because the season hasn't started yet, so there were no actual workers around to strike. In the absence of any great outbursts of street protesting, it felt like a fiesta day, even if everything was open and the post office moto was doing its usual spluttering rounds.

Most of the local strikers probably went on a day out to Palma (probably not taking public transport). 60,000 of them took to the streets there in an evening protest; considerably fewer, according to the government. Local journalists and reporters had clearly been detailed to cover all the information regarding competing numbers of strike participants and street protesters being pumped out by the unions, interior ministries and police, as there was precious little other news yesterday.

The most positive thing you can say about the general strike is that it was a bonanza for the media; it wasn't positive in any other way. The unions described it as a great success, but then they would. Buoyed by this apparent success, there is now a threat of a "hot" first of May, i.e. bang on the start of the tourism season. This is the great worry, though the impact on tourism of Thursday's media bonanza was minimal; flights weren't that badly affected, there was transport available and most tourists seemed to be unaware of what was going on or, as last time, were standing around taking photos with their mobiles and uploading them to Facebook. Assuming they saw any evidence of the strike, that is.

The strike has achieved nothing. Any further strike would only do so were it to be for a prolonged period, which will not happen. Apart from anything else, workers might be prepared to give up one day's pay but not any more.

As is usual on such occasions, there was the odd nutty element that made a nuisance of itself. "Radicals" - as the media-bonanzaing media like to call them - were involved in a run-in with the police in Barcelona, but there will always be some nutty boys who muscle in on these events. There wasn't much by way of violence anywhere; you wonder if there really is the stomach for a fight amongst the workforce of Mallorca and Spain, that which is in work of course.

One senses that there is more an air of resignation. Whether Mallorcans and Spaniards as a whole really grasp the enormity of Spain's problems is questionable, but most will probably just carry on in their own sweet way, blaming anyone but themselves for whatever these problems might actually be. A country and a population that has been on the receiving end of so much generosity and managed to blow it all is ill-prepared psychologically to understand that it might itself need to accept a share of the blame.

The population will probably take in its casual stride to the next bar for a coffee the news that the government has announced measures to cut 27 billion euros of spending. The amount is so enormous, rather like all the largesse that had once been directed towards Spain, that it doesn't mean a great deal. It may do for public sector workers who are caught up in cuts that average 17%, but otherwise ...?

But look at these cuts and they should really make everyone fearful. While commentators believe the government's measures do not go far enough in meeting its deficit-reduction requirement, others might well ask where is any growth to come from that might help in raising the tax revenues the government seems to believe that it will receive. Cuts to the tourism and budget of over 30%, for example, don't make for great news for an industry that is constantly referred to as the motor of the economy.

No one is convinced, no one that is who casts a critical eye over Spain's economy. Brussels isn't convinced, the Italian prime minister isn't convinced (though he has apologised for his critical remarks), "Le Monde" in France has described Spain as Europe's great problem. No one is convinced and partly because Rajoy is so unconvincing. As a prime minister he lacks any sense of leadership or vision. He is an automaton politician, one without the personality to inspire confidence. He might just get away without there being huge expressions of public discontent, but only because the public is so apathetic. Or maybe he won't.


Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.


Index for March 2012

Andalucía regional election - 27 March 2012
Balcony diving - 5 March 2012
Beach bars - 12 March 2012
Catalan defence - 11 March 2012
Círculo Fortuny: luxury promotion - 29 March 2012
Cricket in Spain - 13 March 2012
Environment, coasts, building and tourism - 4 March 2012
European tourism trends - 15 March 2012
Gay tourism - 7 March 2012
General strike - 31 March 2012
German cyclist death - 28 March 2012
Jaume Matas guilty - 22 March 2012
Joan March anniversary of death - 9 March 2012
Llucmajor scraps tourism promotion - 3 March 2012
Magalluf: change of name? - 25 March 2012
Magalluf: concerts this summer - 2 March 2012
Nature parks: self-financing - 17 March 2012
New Order in Mallorca - 16 March 2012
Oil exploration in Canaries - 26 March 2012
Palm Sunday - 30 March 2012
Public space: invasion of - 10 March 2012
Puerto Alcúdia best beach destination - 8 March 2012
Real Madrid Resort Island - 24 March 2012
Recession and tourism - 1 March 2012
Social media and tourism promotion - 6 March 2012
Spring starts in Mallorca - 20 March 2012
Tapas - 18 March 2012, 23 March 2012
Tourism organisation in Mallorca - 21 March 2012
Travel writing - 19 March 2012
Youth unemployment in Spain - 14 March 2012

MALLORCA TODAY - Thousands stage demonstration against labour reform

60,000 people, according to union sources, took to the streets of Palma yesterday evening in a protest against labour reform as a culmination to the general strike. Across Spain, 861,150 people took part in protests, according to government figures. The day's protests led to 116 injuries, the majority of them to police. The unions say that over 10 million people supported the strike, the government insisting that participation was very moderate compared with the 2010 strike. Only two people were arrested in the Balearics where the protests went off with little incident. The worst incidents were in Barcelona where police and radical youths engaged in a battle late yesterday evening.

MALLORCA TODAY - General strike starts without serious incidents

Reports from across Spain suggest that the general strike got underway at midnight without any serious incidents but with major police presences, but 33 arrests had been made by 07:00 and five police officers had been injured following clashes.

Some of the strongest picket demonstrations have been at distribution centres for food and provisions, while there are also significant cuts to refuge and local authority cleaning services.

In Mallorca, pickets started gathering before midnight in Palma to ensure that minimum services by the city's service operator were adhered with. No incidents have been so far reported on the island. At the airport, 50% of flights into the island are expected, cancellations having been made by some airlines. A worry is that fuel might not be available for planes and that, as flights do intensify this morning, there will be clashes with pickets.

Against the background of the strike, French newspaper "Le Monde" has caused some controversy by attacking Spain for the country having become "Europe's great problem" and saying that there are doubts in European circles as to Prime Minister Rajoy's ability to get a grip with the deficit and other issues.

Update: As usual, there are conflicting views as to how well the strike has been supported. In the Balearics, the unions say that it has had 68% support, the government says that support in the public sector has been a mere 16%. There have been marked differences, even down to the level of individual institutions. in Puerto Pollensa, for instance, while one school was open as normal with all staff, another was closed. The percentage of teaching staff on strike has been put at 23%. In some municipalities, rubbish collection has been taking place as usual, in others, it hasn't been. In Spain as a whole, the unions have placed support at between 77 and 85%, the government says that it has been less than the last general strike in 2010. The effect on air travel in the Balearics has been far less significant than had been feared; the level of cancellations has been just under 7% (29 out of 429 flights).

As far as any trouble has been concerned, incidents in Mallorca have not been particularly noteworthy; two arrests have been made following clashes between pickets and police in Palma, but otherwise relative calm has prevailed.

MALLORCA TODAY - Contingency plans at Palma airport for general strike

AENA, the national airports authority, has been making contingency plans to limit the impact of tomorrow's general strike on operations at and to and from Palma airport. Meanwhile, the Balearics Supreme Court is set to pronounce this morning on minimum service levels during the strike, having been petitioned by the main unions to calculate the suspension of services.

Update: The Supreme Court has rejected demands from the unions and gone along almost completely with the minimum services set out by the regional government. This will mean, for example, the operation of 160 coaches transferring tourists between the airport and hotels.

See more: Ultima Hora

MALLORCA TODAY - Agreement on general strike minimum services

Unions and government have finally arrived at an agreement as to minimum services that will operate during the general strike on 29 March. With regard to air transport, this will amount to a minimum of 20% of flights in Europe.

See more: El Mundo

MALLORCA TODAY - Breakdown in general strike negotiations

The Balearic Government looks set to impose minimum service levels during the general strike (29 March) after talks with unions broke down yesterday. The main difficulty in the negotiations appeared to relate to transport services from the airport that would affect tourists.

See more: Diario de Mallorca

MALLORCA TODAY - Hopes that general strike will not affect Balearics tourism

Negotiations still going on, the Balearic Government is hopeful of limiting the effects of 29 March's general strike on tourism by guaranteeing good levels of transport to and from Palma airport. Any effects on flights themselves are not yet entirely clear. Other proposed minimum services are outlined here Ultima Hora, while in Palma, 80% of public transport workers are said to be prepared to support the strike.

MALLORCA TODAY - Unions and government negotiate strike minimum services

The four main trade unions co-ordinating the general strike in the Balearics are in discussion with the regional government over minimum service provision during the strike (on 29 March), the main issues seemingly concerning public transport and health services.

See more: Diario de Mallorca

MALLORCA TODAY - More unions support Balearics' general strike

The way things work is that unions in various regions have to declare separately if they are going to support protests such as general strikes, and so it is that two more major unions - USO and STEI-i - have joined with the CCOO and UGT in saying they will form a united front in the general strike planned for 29 March.

See more: Ultima Hora

MALLORCA TODAY - Public disagree with general strike

Might the Spanish general strike for 29 March planned by the main CCOO and UGT unions be as much of a damp squib as the last one in September 2010? A poll for "El País" suggests it might be: El País English

MALLORCA TODAY - Puerto Alcúdia Trip Advisor; Sóller train; General strike

A pot-pourri of follow-ups to different stories and news items appearing on this blog recently.

Representatives from Alcúdia at the Berlin ITB fair have been celebrating Trip Advisor's award of best beach destination to Puerto Alcúdia: Diario de Mallorca

The exhibition to mark the centenary of the Sóller train was opened yesterday at the Can Prunera museum in Sóller: Ultima Hora

And on the general strike. Your handy guide to the rights to a general strike and what can and cannot be done and what minimum services are needed. The strike does have to be ratified yet (Friday next week), but it is most unlikely not to be. Announcements from other unions are expected: El Mundo

MALLORCA TODAY - General strike in Spain on 29 March

The main Spanish unions, CCOO and UGT, have agreed to stage a general strike on 29 March in protest against Spanish Government labour reforms. The most recent general strike was in September 2010, a protest also to do with labour reforms, but those of the Zapatero Socialist administration.

I'm All Right, Juan: A Peculiarly Spanish Strike

How's your general strike going to be?

Bliss. Day off, an hour's lie-in, putting the feet up, a trip to the pub or a pleasant long walk on the beach in the autumn sun. The satisfying feeling of not having to bother with the world for 24 hours; a bit like a Sunday.

Being British, we don't do general strikes. Not since 1926 anyway. My great great uncle Albert may or may not have driven his omnibus for part of May that year. I really couldn't say. That'll be because, as far as I'm aware, I had no great great uncle Albert. But the strike of 1926 still has the power to evoke memories and tall tales of distant relatives' militancy. Its pretext was worsening conditions and reductions in pay. Nothing new, even under a Spanish sun. Same conditions apply.

The thing with general strikes, or their near equivalent, is that they are their own pretexts to enjoy a bit of quality time without the worry of having to put in a full day's shift. Quality time, such as that down the pub.

It's 1984 and all that. The miners are on strike. There is a day of action, otherwise known as a day of inaction. It's a pub in London, just down the road from my office. There are those from the City, those from the Civil Service, and myself, who has willingly taken capitalism's publishing shilling. Somehow, we've all managed to sling a legitimate day of action sicky in order to go and get bladdered. Which is what we do. The joy of strikes.

1984 was the nearest thing to a general strike for over two generations. The day of inaction occurred, conveniently perhaps, a week or so after Orgreave, the awfulness of which should have shocked us out of the facile faux-agitprop of a day's downing of pens and early PCs. It did, up to a point. And we persevered with our distant support, giving a small infant in hand at a Saturday shopping centre a pound coin to toss into the cap of a miners' contribution. But this was London, a city unpopulated with mining communities but filled with those of us who still held some flame for the socialism and communism learnt at university and who agonised as to the obvious contradictions as to the benefits we had derived under Thatcher and our loathing of the woman.

1984 was the tipping-point. It was the breaking of unions and the putting together of the smug societal complacency that followed and which still exists: complacency that has been an inoculation against empathy with the less advantaged. It is the ironic transplantation of the "I'm All Right, Jack" couldn't-care-lessness of Peter Sellers' shop steward. In a different context, it manifested itself, or rather failed to, through the embarrassed feet-gazing submissiveness of a nation, doormatted by Blair over Iraq, that failed to take to the streets in disgust.

But that's Britain. Spain is, or was, something different, before it, too, joined the European complacency union. It can still throw up a beardy ogre such as Cándido Méndez, head of the UGT, but some day soon, on the equivalent to "Have I Got News For You", he will appear on it, as cuddly as Bob Crow once was on the original.

General strike, Spanish-style in 2010, is a quaint parody of union muscle. Spain still does general strikes, and so they come around now and then, like irregular fiestas. But when the call goes out, fiesta-like, everyone heads off to the bar. There is not the sense of a descent into the chaos verging on anarchy that has been prescribed for Greece. The crisis has been a particularly Spanish crisis, one of a bit of a protest for form's sake, combined with a docility of aspirational wealth. To borrow from Marx, the changes in Spanish society, the product of the boom years, have been the opium that sedates the people in worshipping the religion of self-interest. And who, in truth, can blame them, despite the potential for losses in earnings and pensions, the basis for the general strike? 2010 is Spain's tipping-point, and chances are it will follow the same pattern hereafter as Britain.


QUIZ -
Yesterday, Gene Pitney: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7BRraVMZzc

Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

Public Sector General Strike In Mallorca (8 June)

In line with strikes in other regions of Spain, there is to be a public sector general strike across the Balearics in protest at measures adopted by the Zapatero administration to tackle Spain's parlous economic situation.

The strike will take place on Tuesday, 8 June. All the main unions are supporting the strike and have the additional support of the unions for the police and the Guardia Civil. To what extent the police will be affected by the strike is unclear, but areas of the public sector which will most certainly be affected are - among others - health services, schools, colleges and the university, train services and the town halls. There will be minimal services at hospitals, similar to those on Sundays, and the regional government has said that there will be services for other areas affected by the strike. It has advised, for example, that children be taken to schools as usual, though the indications are that most teachers will be on strike. At present, it is unclear whether the transport sector, other than trains, will be affected. Were it to be, then there could be an impact on airports, ports and buses.

The Webs They Weave

Well, that didn't last long.

The latest version of the timeshare/holiday club/call it what you want outfit in Puerto Alcúdia has closed. Or at least the office is closed at the moment. That office is what was the AIC and Casabonaire estate agencies near to the Magic roundabout. It goes under the name of Sun & Sea Resorts. Go try googling that and see where it gets you, just like the previous incarnation - To Holiday - would have produced thousands, millions of possibilities. You have to ask why the choice of name is so vague.

I am only guessing, but something that happened on Thursday may have to do with this apparent closure. Tourism was in town, as in the tourism ministry inspectors. They were checking on registrations and documents. Whatever the outcome may or may not be if one is unlucky to be taken in by the scratch-cardists, the basis of the business is meant to be the sale of holidays. This being the case, as far as I understand it, there has to be a licence to act as a travel agency, one that is issued by the government. But I am only guessing. Maybe just a coincidence. Don't be surprised if the operation re-emerges, with the "consultants" hanging around on street corners with their cards inside Burger King literature. One trusts that Burger King is suitably impressed, and one has to ask another question - why try and disguise what you're doing?

While the signs on the doors to the office say Sun & Sea, peer inside and you can see the name Interval. It's very difficult to know, but the Timeshare Council includes a couple of Intervals on its black list. And this highlights one, just one, of the problems with these operations; you really don't know who you are ultimately dealing with. The web is very tangled.


And also tangled would appear to be the web surrounding a multi-million pound racket that has been the subject of police action. Based in Mallorca, the swindle has been investigated in a joint operation by the Spanish national police and Scotland Yard, and offices in the south of the island were raided on Thursday. With links to Switzerland, the fraudulent operation promised returns of 30 per cent. In the report from the "Diario" it says that fictitious companies were created related to gold, fuel or travel.


A general strike is still on the cards. Originally it was planned for 20 May, then 2 June was mentioned. It is still not clear when it might be staged. 8 June is now a possibility, but whenever it takes place, assuming it actually does, some businesses are expressing their concerns. A general strike of public sector workers would include the police. There is talk, apparently, of security firms being hired for the day or of closing for the day. This may all be an over-reaction, but some are obviously taking the potential threat of no police on duty seriously.


Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.