If the past few days in Mallorca have been a confusion of pre-electoral jockeying-for-position, then just wait until after today. What chaos may yet await us, unless Bauzá has his "Cameron moment" and sweeps into re-elected power with the sounds of teachers booing and braying in the background.
As things turned out, the strike arranged for the green tide of educational activists was a bit of a damp squib, albeit that the dampness of a squib has to be measured - as always in Mallorcan statistical terms - by a percentage. The Balearics education ministry stated "definitively" that 23.4% of the islands' 11,800 teachers went on strike last week, protesting - inevitably - against the Bauzá regime's educational policies and the introduction of the new national curriculum through LOMCE, the law on the quality of education.
The main thing that the green tide was objecting to, LOMCE-wise, was the test for nine-year-olds. Again, the education ministry was on hand to give some indication as to the "chaos" caused by this test. 6.84% of schools were reported as having "incidents" which prevented the test being taken. The association of primary school heads said that there was "chaos" on account of conflicting instructions that had emanated from the regional education ministry. It, the ministry, was unable for once to place a percentage on the level of its conflicting instruction.
But what was this test? Well, part of it required a spot of English. So, there was, for example, a multiple choice question. Fill in the missing word. "Where (blank) you going? I'm going to the park." What an opportunity was missed. When JR and Frankie Armengol went head to head for their debate on local TV, this should have been the question. How good is your trilingualism? José Ramón? "Erm, erm. Where do you going?" Wrong. Frankie? "I refuse to answer this on the grounds that I believe that TIL has produced chaos in the classrooms of the Balearics - at least 63.7% of them, that is." (Her percentage of course having been plucked entirely at random.)
JR might have been helped in getting the answer right had the presenter of the debate been one Miguel Angel Ariza, who caused a storm on his radio show for IB3 by announcing that listeners should vote for the PP. It was "unfortunate", he was to later admit, but insisted that it had been said as part of a "comedy" programme. Vota PP, the party of comedians. Perhaps. Journalist groups were not having his excuse, though. Impartiality, they screamed, those who had not been demonstrating their partiality in the lead-up to the election. A problem for Miguel, in trying to defend his humour, was that, as one example, on his blog of 19 December he wrote that "Bauzá is, has been and will be a good president", going on to praise a reduction in unemployment and greater wealth. Or maybe that had all been in the name of comedy as well.
Showing posts with label Strikes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Strikes. Show all posts
Sunday, May 24, 2015
Sunday, August 31, 2014
Summer's Over, Time To Strike
Summer is coming to an end and so the time draws near for parents in Mallorca to pack away the kids' lilos, to fork out for new textbooks (various languages) and to arrange for the pre-school visit to the hairdresser. Back to school. Vuelta al cole, as they say. And back to the same old playground posturing. The "Great Conflict" has never been quite forgotten during the lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer. It has been smouldering like a discarded fag end of discredited policies and attitudes in the tangled undergrowth of TIL and pro- and anti-Catalanism ready to burst into the flames of a September on educational fire. Canadairs of common sense are needed to douse the conflagration, but common sense has been de-commissioned. Where is the ice bucket of negotiation and dialogue to challenge and cool the tempers? Being shoved into the attic along with the lilo.
President Bauzá wasn't actually wrong when he said the other day that if you were concerned about children, there wouldn't be a strike. Ah yes, the children. The forgotten stakeholders in the "Great Conflict". Curious that. But then maybe not. Just as tourists are the lowest priority for tourism policy, so the raw human material of education, the kids, are bottom of the education-argument class. Bauzá's "you" were the Assemblea de Docents, the self-styled teachers' assembly that aspires to be a teaching union (by the name of Alternativa) and seemingly sweep all before it in declaring some sort of Catalanist caliphate of pedagogic fundamentalism. I don't believe for one moment that all its members would prefer Mallorca to rise up and form part of an independent Catalan Lands, but some of its members most certainly do. Never ever let it be said that the "Great Conflict" has not been about politics.
The Assemblea has sought dialogue, but not actually being a union - yet - the government does not consider it to be a body with which it should be having dialogue, even if it wanted to, though it does of course insist that the staff room door is always open for a chat. PSOE has told the government that it considers the Assemblea to be a "valid interlocutor", as it also considers the parents' associations, the university and various other associations to be valid interlocutors. Perhaps, therefore, they should all gather in a grand educational locutorio and talk to each other from the safety of the phone booths without ever daring to go face to face.
But then, what do they want dialogue about? Despite Bauzá having been attacked from all sides including his own for the government's educational policy, he remains stubbornly less than humble, having declared after the disastrous Euro elections that there would be PP humility. Not so, unless humility is a synonym for authoritarianism, of which he is accused; and no, it is not a synonym.
So, the Assemblea will have its day off at the start of the school year (15 September), and all the well-rehearsed arguments will spin once more on the roundabout in the playground, the newest of them to do with the insistence of the education ministry that all schools have to have a programme of TIL in place for the new school year. Ah well, never mind, come next June, Podemos, PSOE and others on the left will have managed to cobble together a coalition, and TIL and anti-Catalanism will be removed and placed in the school storeroom of educational obsolescence along with the abacus.
Index for August 2014
Balearics oil prospecting - 10 August 2014
Batucada - 2 August 2014
Bellevue, Marsans and Orizonia - 26 August 2014
Bullrings of Mallorca - 21 August 2014
Campaign against bad behaviour (Magalluf) - 17 August 2014
Can Picafort ducks - 9 August 2014
Cossiers folk dance - 25 August 2014
Education conflict - 31 August 2014
Emperor Augustus' bust - 13 August 2014
Festival of Lanterns, Alcúdia - 23 August 2014
First World War and Mallorca - 4 August 2014, 5 August 2014, 6 August 2014, 7 August 2014
Glamping - 20 August 2014
Guillem Bestard - 19 August 2014
Holiday lets - 8 August 2014, 12 August 2014
Joan Mascaró i Fornés - 30 August 2014
Magalluf mole - 22 August 2014
Matas in prison - 3 August 2014
Mini tourist trains - 14 August 2014
Rock 'n' Rostoll and fiesta raves - 28 August 2014
Son Espases corruption case - 24 August 2014
Statutes of autonomy and responsibilities - 18 August 2014
Tour guides - 11 August 2014
Tourism law - 15 August 2014
Tourism spend statistics - 29 August 2014
Tourist days and weeks - 27 August 2014
Tourist satisfaction decline - 1 August 2014
Trofeo Almirante Conde de Barcelona regatta - 16 August 2014
President Bauzá wasn't actually wrong when he said the other day that if you were concerned about children, there wouldn't be a strike. Ah yes, the children. The forgotten stakeholders in the "Great Conflict". Curious that. But then maybe not. Just as tourists are the lowest priority for tourism policy, so the raw human material of education, the kids, are bottom of the education-argument class. Bauzá's "you" were the Assemblea de Docents, the self-styled teachers' assembly that aspires to be a teaching union (by the name of Alternativa) and seemingly sweep all before it in declaring some sort of Catalanist caliphate of pedagogic fundamentalism. I don't believe for one moment that all its members would prefer Mallorca to rise up and form part of an independent Catalan Lands, but some of its members most certainly do. Never ever let it be said that the "Great Conflict" has not been about politics.
The Assemblea has sought dialogue, but not actually being a union - yet - the government does not consider it to be a body with which it should be having dialogue, even if it wanted to, though it does of course insist that the staff room door is always open for a chat. PSOE has told the government that it considers the Assemblea to be a "valid interlocutor", as it also considers the parents' associations, the university and various other associations to be valid interlocutors. Perhaps, therefore, they should all gather in a grand educational locutorio and talk to each other from the safety of the phone booths without ever daring to go face to face.
But then, what do they want dialogue about? Despite Bauzá having been attacked from all sides including his own for the government's educational policy, he remains stubbornly less than humble, having declared after the disastrous Euro elections that there would be PP humility. Not so, unless humility is a synonym for authoritarianism, of which he is accused; and no, it is not a synonym.
So, the Assemblea will have its day off at the start of the school year (15 September), and all the well-rehearsed arguments will spin once more on the roundabout in the playground, the newest of them to do with the insistence of the education ministry that all schools have to have a programme of TIL in place for the new school year. Ah well, never mind, come next June, Podemos, PSOE and others on the left will have managed to cobble together a coalition, and TIL and anti-Catalanism will be removed and placed in the school storeroom of educational obsolescence along with the abacus.
Index for August 2014
Balearics oil prospecting - 10 August 2014
Batucada - 2 August 2014
Bellevue, Marsans and Orizonia - 26 August 2014
Bullrings of Mallorca - 21 August 2014
Campaign against bad behaviour (Magalluf) - 17 August 2014
Can Picafort ducks - 9 August 2014
Cossiers folk dance - 25 August 2014
Education conflict - 31 August 2014
Emperor Augustus' bust - 13 August 2014
Festival of Lanterns, Alcúdia - 23 August 2014
First World War and Mallorca - 4 August 2014, 5 August 2014, 6 August 2014, 7 August 2014
Glamping - 20 August 2014
Guillem Bestard - 19 August 2014
Holiday lets - 8 August 2014, 12 August 2014
Joan Mascaró i Fornés - 30 August 2014
Magalluf mole - 22 August 2014
Matas in prison - 3 August 2014
Mini tourist trains - 14 August 2014
Rock 'n' Rostoll and fiesta raves - 28 August 2014
Son Espases corruption case - 24 August 2014
Statutes of autonomy and responsibilities - 18 August 2014
Tour guides - 11 August 2014
Tourism law - 15 August 2014
Tourism spend statistics - 29 August 2014
Tourist days and weeks - 27 August 2014
Tourist satisfaction decline - 1 August 2014
Trofeo Almirante Conde de Barcelona regatta - 16 August 2014
Thursday, July 05, 2012
Chaos Theory: Normal service resumed
Once upon a time, one supposes, Mallorca's businesses and economy may well have operated under conditions of chaos. Or maybe they didn't. The enduring image of Johnny Foreigner, especially southern European, Mediterranean Johnny Foreigner, is that he is Manuel, forever the butt of a joke and forever getting a kick in the butt from an agitated, manic, stiff-upper-lip, northern-European sort like Basil, while the enduring image of the Johnny Foreigner southern European, Mediterranean businessowner is that of Keith Allen's slothful and violent Hotel Bastardo proprietor in "A Fistful of Travellers' Cheques". Whatever the truth of this past image, events appear to be conspiring to revive it. The current theory of chaos in Mallorca is one of normal service having been resumed, or about to be.
The agitated northern-European sort is himself about to enter a state of heightened agitation combined with indignation, disbelief and prejudice confirmation. "Don't they know there's a recession!?" Well actually, yes they probably do, which may have something to do with the "long hot summer of discontent" (please forgive this cliché of hyperbole) that is now more or less upon us.
I'm not here to defend striking workers when it comes to wanting more money or fewer hours. They should know there's a recession on, and they're bloody lucky to have a job, but there is one line of defence, one that I have every sympathy with: those who are meant to be leading Mallorca and Spain in these times of crisis, now about to become times of chaos. When you are a Mallorcan or Spanish worker lumbered with the political leaders they have, then striking seems the least worst option.
Let's just sum up where we are on the strike front. The doctors in the public health service may or may not be striking, but either way they are distinctly hacked off because of cuts and the ham-fisted way in which the regional government has gone about trying to reclaim money that has been paid to them since 2008. The teachers are threatening to strike from the start of the next school year because class sizes will become too large. More immediately, we have the hotel and wider hostelry sector about to down cutlery and wine glasses on 20 July, and we have the coach drivers about to stop ferrying tourists to and from the airport or taking them on excursions on 21 and 22 July. Both these actions may be extended. To add to this jolly little mix, we also have the bus drivers of the public transport services operated by Transunión; they are planning on striking on 16 and 17 July.
When you've not been paid for three months, which is apparently the case with the Transunión drivers, then there is a legitimate grievance. And the reason for not being paid is because the company hasn't been paid - by government. It has been a similar story with, for example, workers in old people's homes.
All of these actions, including that of Transunión, might, just might, be avoided were there anything like a real sense of political leadership or attempt by political leaders to engender sympathy for their position and to get the disenchanted workforce to rally behind them at a time of genuine crisis. But there is no attempt and there is no sympathy, because leaders such as Rajoy don't command it.
He doesn't help his cause by being so anonymous and invisible. He is most definitely not a leader for such trying times. And in the Balearics, you have a similarly unsympathetic character as Bauzá, one who also abrogates the messenger role - to the unfortunate Rafael Bosch.
What you have, rather than attempting to appeal to workers' better instincts for the common good, is a government in the Balearics which seeks to use the law to investigate a previous health minister for having agreed to pay doctors the money that the government now wants back (and which seems to have been just some sort of bluster as no more has been heard of it) and which has a president who is also seeking legal redress because his honour has apparently been impugned by the leader of the UGT union. While Lorenzo Bravo has used various insults, one that has been cited, that of "inútil" (useless), is not much of an insult.
Regardless of stronger insults, the president should simply dismiss them and tell Bravo to grow up. But no, it seems easier to get prosecutors involved rather than tackle the genuine issues that confront Mallorca. These are the politics of the playground and they are the politics that make me feel sympathy for all the strikers.
There is a further chaos theory, and that is that the political leadership wants the strikes. Rajoy implied that he knew he would get a general strike, and so he did. But he personally did nothing to avert it. Nothing through his own lack of leadership. And in Bauzá, he seems to have the perfect accomplice.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
The agitated northern-European sort is himself about to enter a state of heightened agitation combined with indignation, disbelief and prejudice confirmation. "Don't they know there's a recession!?" Well actually, yes they probably do, which may have something to do with the "long hot summer of discontent" (please forgive this cliché of hyperbole) that is now more or less upon us.
I'm not here to defend striking workers when it comes to wanting more money or fewer hours. They should know there's a recession on, and they're bloody lucky to have a job, but there is one line of defence, one that I have every sympathy with: those who are meant to be leading Mallorca and Spain in these times of crisis, now about to become times of chaos. When you are a Mallorcan or Spanish worker lumbered with the political leaders they have, then striking seems the least worst option.
Let's just sum up where we are on the strike front. The doctors in the public health service may or may not be striking, but either way they are distinctly hacked off because of cuts and the ham-fisted way in which the regional government has gone about trying to reclaim money that has been paid to them since 2008. The teachers are threatening to strike from the start of the next school year because class sizes will become too large. More immediately, we have the hotel and wider hostelry sector about to down cutlery and wine glasses on 20 July, and we have the coach drivers about to stop ferrying tourists to and from the airport or taking them on excursions on 21 and 22 July. Both these actions may be extended. To add to this jolly little mix, we also have the bus drivers of the public transport services operated by Transunión; they are planning on striking on 16 and 17 July.
When you've not been paid for three months, which is apparently the case with the Transunión drivers, then there is a legitimate grievance. And the reason for not being paid is because the company hasn't been paid - by government. It has been a similar story with, for example, workers in old people's homes.
All of these actions, including that of Transunión, might, just might, be avoided were there anything like a real sense of political leadership or attempt by political leaders to engender sympathy for their position and to get the disenchanted workforce to rally behind them at a time of genuine crisis. But there is no attempt and there is no sympathy, because leaders such as Rajoy don't command it.
He doesn't help his cause by being so anonymous and invisible. He is most definitely not a leader for such trying times. And in the Balearics, you have a similarly unsympathetic character as Bauzá, one who also abrogates the messenger role - to the unfortunate Rafael Bosch.
What you have, rather than attempting to appeal to workers' better instincts for the common good, is a government in the Balearics which seeks to use the law to investigate a previous health minister for having agreed to pay doctors the money that the government now wants back (and which seems to have been just some sort of bluster as no more has been heard of it) and which has a president who is also seeking legal redress because his honour has apparently been impugned by the leader of the UGT union. While Lorenzo Bravo has used various insults, one that has been cited, that of "inútil" (useless), is not much of an insult.
Regardless of stronger insults, the president should simply dismiss them and tell Bravo to grow up. But no, it seems easier to get prosecutors involved rather than tackle the genuine issues that confront Mallorca. These are the politics of the playground and they are the politics that make me feel sympathy for all the strikers.
There is a further chaos theory, and that is that the political leadership wants the strikes. Rajoy implied that he knew he would get a general strike, and so he did. But he personally did nothing to avert it. Nothing through his own lack of leadership. And in Bauzá, he seems to have the perfect accomplice.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Wednesday, July 04, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Half a million tourists to be affected by July's strikes
British and German travel agency organisations are saying that up to 500,000 tourists could be affected by the two strikes planned for later this month - that in the hostelry sector (20 July) and that of coach drivers on 21 and 22 July. The drivers' strike could become indefinite, meaning that there would be repeats, if agreement is not found as a consequence of the threatened strike. Meanwhile, another strike - that of doctors which is due to start on 6 July - looks as though it will be called off.
See more: Ultima Hora
See more: Ultima Hora
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Balearics hotel strike could intensify in August
The unions are upping the ante in their demands for improved pay and conditions for workers in the Balearics hostelry sector. If an agreement after the strike planned for 20 July takes place (assuming it does) is not forthcoming, then the unions are threatening to act "more robustly" with further strikes in August.
MALLORCA TODAY - Doctors in the Balearics to strike from 6 July
The continuing row over the repayment of additional salaries paid to doctors and other medical staff since 2008 is escalating, doctors in the Balearics public health sector planning on staging twelve days of partial strikes during July which could then continue into August and September.
See more: Ultima Hora
See more: Ultima Hora
Monday, April 02, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Concern over impact of strikes on Balearics tourism
Negotiations with unions, particularly as they affect hotels and transport, are still to be completed, leading to concerns that there could be strikes and that tour operators, which switched tourists from Greece last year for this very reason, could decide to do likewise where the Balearics are concerned.
See more: Ultima Hora
See more: Ultima Hora
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Strikes in Balearics latest
First up, the series of strikes by Iberia pilots and cabin crews, due to have started on 16 March, have been suspended following an agreement to appoint an arbitrator to consider the Iberia staff complaints re planned job losses as a consequence of the creation of the low-cost Iberia Express airline.
Secondly, general reaction to the planned general strike on 29 March (in Palma at any rate) is a mixture of those who are in favour and those, in the majority, who are against it because they would lose a day's pay and would be inclined not to take part.
Thirdly, the annual round of salary negotiations between the hoteliers and the unions ahead of this year's tourism season in the Balearics have been on hold for a month and now negotiations with other businesses (such as transport operators) are also on hold, all giving rise to fears that the unions' stance could damage the tourism season.
Meanwhile, the Balearic Government has raised the temperature by indicating that, as part of measures to reduce the region's deficit, it wishes to shorten public sector workers' working day and therefore their salaries.
Secondly, general reaction to the planned general strike on 29 March (in Palma at any rate) is a mixture of those who are in favour and those, in the majority, who are against it because they would lose a day's pay and would be inclined not to take part.
Thirdly, the annual round of salary negotiations between the hoteliers and the unions ahead of this year's tourism season in the Balearics have been on hold for a month and now negotiations with other businesses (such as transport operators) are also on hold, all giving rise to fears that the unions' stance could damage the tourism season.
Meanwhile, the Balearic Government has raised the temperature by indicating that, as part of measures to reduce the region's deficit, it wishes to shorten public sector workers' working day and therefore their salaries.
Monday, August 01, 2011
MALLORCA TODAY - Ambulance workers planning strikes in August
Ambulance workers in Mallorca have given notice of partial strikes on 12, 16 and 18 August. These would involve there being no service between 11:00 and 13:00 and 16:00 and 18:00. If this action is not successful in turning around problems with ambulance workers being paid, the UGT union has said that there will be an all-out strike on 22 August.
Monday, May 16, 2011
MALLORCA TODAY - Ambulance drivers on overtime ban
Ambulance drivers and medics in Mallorca are set to go on partial strike on 18 and 25 May and on 1 and 8 June, following a failure to arrive at an agreement on salaries. They will work a normal eight-hour day but not the four hours extra which constitute their shifts.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
MALLORCA TODAY - Airport strikes' negotiations break down
Negotiations between the Spanish national airports authority AENA and the unions representing workers who might face job losses as a consequence of the planned partial privatisation of Spain's airports have broken down this evening without agreement. As things stand, therefore, the threat of strikes, starting on 20 April and lasting during the summer, remains. AENA has given the unions a proposal to study further. One of the main issues for the unions would appear to be the future management of Madrid and Barcelona airports.
MALLORCA TODAY - Unions meet with AENA
Representatives of three unions - the CCOO, UGT and USO - are now meeting with AENA officials at the airport authority's headquarters. This is the first meeting between the two sides since the unions announced their intention to strike on 22 days through the tourism season. The minister for development (which includes transport), José Blanco, appears confident that the strikes will not go ahead.
The morning's meeting broke up without agreement, the unions expressing displeasure with the fact that there was no representative from the development ministry and that the president of AENA was present for only a quarter of an hour.
The parties are due to sit down again at 17.00 this afternoon.
The morning's meeting broke up without agreement, the unions expressing displeasure with the fact that there was no representative from the development ministry and that the president of AENA was present for only a quarter of an hour.
The parties are due to sit down again at 17.00 this afternoon.
Saturday, June 28, 2008
You've Got A Smiling Face
And ever more on the train extension. It would appear that not everyone is happy with the planned route (alongside the road to Alcúdia from the motorway); that not everyone includes the mayors of Alcúdia and Muro. Alcúdia's Miquel Ferrer is complaining about a lack of consultation, and Muro's Jaume Perelló reckons that the other route (the one that would terminate at the Es Foguero "ruin") would be the better option. Well, as this other route would mean the terminal being sited close to the Muro boundary, I suppose one can sense a degree of self-interest. However, maybe he has a point when he says that such a terminal would be closer to the coast and also to the Muro hospital. Hmm, well, not sure it's that much of a point to be honest, but what about the new industrial estate? That would be right next to the other route's terminal; a stronger point I would have thought. Of course, some are happy about the decision. Step forward our old mates GOB, the environmental lobby group, who one might have imagined wouldn't have wanted anything that came within the sound of a train whistle of Albufera.
This has all the makings of something that will run and run, and run and run - for 15 long years probably like the time it took to agree on the industrial estate - and run and run like the runaway train, and talking of which don't forget the marvel that is Dimple Diamond (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84DmeutIAr4).
But another day, and another strike in the offing. This has been a fabulous year for industrial relations locally. It gets little better than the teachers and the police striking or working to rule. Oh yes it does if you happen to be flying in for your hols. Baggage handlers. Yep, they're downing the luggage and leaving the carousels sadly revolving with nothing bar the battered and unclaimed suitcase that should have gone to Alicante. Mind you, this has and is only scheduled to take place between the hours of 13:30 and 15:30 when they can go off and have a nice menu of the day. The forums are consoling themselves with the fact that a couple of hours wait is nothing to worry about as it takes that long for baggage to come through anyway (which it doesn't), but those seeking this solace should bear in mind that it also works (or rather doesn't work when on strike) in the outgoing direction, i.e. baggage doesn't get loaded onto outbound flights. So, Mr Smug coming-on-holiday tourist, watch out if you're only here for a week as they're planning a repeat next weekend, and for the whole of Saturday, not just the lunch break. And let's add to this glorious summer of strikes the train workers and possibly hotel workers. Wonderful stuff.
Meanwhile, celebration time and photo opportunity moment for Pollensa worthies yesterday. Some 40 years after it was first planned and six years after the first stage of the road was built, the new road that bypasses Puerto Pollensa was officially opened. Oh joy. The most recently built bit, from the coast road to link up with the roundabout by Caprabo (Eroski), is now complete, there being a roundabout on the coast road that takes you either along the bypass through Gotmar and Pinaret to join up with the bypass to Formentor or further along the old coast road. Excellent, especially if the enviros get their way and close the whole coast road, thus making the whole exercise a complete waste of time.
QUIZ
Chain - Michael Brecker who was part of The Brecker Brothers. Brecker's final public performance was with which jazz pianist? Clue: "I Thought It Was You". Yesterday's title - U2, "Desire" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bjNHzU81qY). Today's title - in honour of the baggage handlers' strike, what had this smiling face and flew a baby away?
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
This has all the makings of something that will run and run, and run and run - for 15 long years probably like the time it took to agree on the industrial estate - and run and run like the runaway train, and talking of which don't forget the marvel that is Dimple Diamond (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84DmeutIAr4).
But another day, and another strike in the offing. This has been a fabulous year for industrial relations locally. It gets little better than the teachers and the police striking or working to rule. Oh yes it does if you happen to be flying in for your hols. Baggage handlers. Yep, they're downing the luggage and leaving the carousels sadly revolving with nothing bar the battered and unclaimed suitcase that should have gone to Alicante. Mind you, this has and is only scheduled to take place between the hours of 13:30 and 15:30 when they can go off and have a nice menu of the day. The forums are consoling themselves with the fact that a couple of hours wait is nothing to worry about as it takes that long for baggage to come through anyway (which it doesn't), but those seeking this solace should bear in mind that it also works (or rather doesn't work when on strike) in the outgoing direction, i.e. baggage doesn't get loaded onto outbound flights. So, Mr Smug coming-on-holiday tourist, watch out if you're only here for a week as they're planning a repeat next weekend, and for the whole of Saturday, not just the lunch break. And let's add to this glorious summer of strikes the train workers and possibly hotel workers. Wonderful stuff.
Meanwhile, celebration time and photo opportunity moment for Pollensa worthies yesterday. Some 40 years after it was first planned and six years after the first stage of the road was built, the new road that bypasses Puerto Pollensa was officially opened. Oh joy. The most recently built bit, from the coast road to link up with the roundabout by Caprabo (Eroski), is now complete, there being a roundabout on the coast road that takes you either along the bypass through Gotmar and Pinaret to join up with the bypass to Formentor or further along the old coast road. Excellent, especially if the enviros get their way and close the whole coast road, thus making the whole exercise a complete waste of time.
QUIZ
Chain - Michael Brecker who was part of The Brecker Brothers. Brecker's final public performance was with which jazz pianist? Clue: "I Thought It Was You". Yesterday's title - U2, "Desire" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bjNHzU81qY). Today's title - in honour of the baggage handlers' strike, what had this smiling face and flew a baby away?
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
It Bites
No, not a mosquito. The strike of Spanish lorry drivers. Different country, same public reaction. Put a bit of a scare in front of Jose Public and he'll panic like crazy and take his own tanker to the local petrol station and fill up and then strip the supermarket shelves on the way home for good measure. Not that I am aware of any problem here as such, but maybe I should join the crowds and start panicking. There again, no petrol and it would be a good excuse not to do anything. Lounge around all day in the sun. The only problem being ... The other "it bites" is the grim weather.
The lorry drivers want a minimum price for haulage, but President Zapatero's not about to go along with the demand. Quite what also he can do about the soaring rise in diesel costs I've no idea. It's not as if diesel is the only energy product that's been affected; butane gas is up to over 14 euros a bottle, not far off a ten per-cent rise in a couple of months. The costs of energy have increased significantly over the past few months, so when people bang on about prices here being high or having increased, they might spare a thought for the fact that all businesses need to try and recoup those costs, and that includes bars and restaurants. Everyone is affected.
You now start to get the feeling of a conspiracy against the season. The credit crunch was one thing, then the euro-pound lack of kilter, then the weather (and still the weather) and now the energy crisis and the hauliers on strike. You wonder if it can get much worse; perhaps a plague of locusts. A drought on a biblical scale is unlikely though.
And returning to yesterday's piece. It happened again. Same Eroski supermarket, different tourist, different bunch of bananas. Fortunately someone was on hand. Me. I watched the gentleman concerned as he returned to weigh the bananas. Put them on the scale and then looked at the buttons. What he saw was a series of numbers. Which one do you press? You have to know that the numbers are to be found next to the relevant items. I did it for him. And on leaving, I asked the girl at the checkout, from whose queue the gentleman in question had been rebuffed in his initial attempt at payment, why there was no dirty great sign in English (and German) to make it clear that most items of fruit and veg have first to be weighed and that the button corresponding to the number from where the particular fruit or veg has been taken has then to be pressed in order to print the correct label. She quite agreed. So I suggested she brought it up with the management. And you know what? There's a meeting tomorrow and she will. Maybe. But were this dirty great sign to be placed in hopefully a prominent position, the only problem then would be explaining the fact that there are certain items that don't need to be weighed. Confused? You will be.
QUIZ
Chain - Trevor Horn and Geoff Downes of Buggles were, for a while, part of Yes and Horn produced "Owner of a Lonely Heart". And what connection is there between Yes and The Moody Blues? Yesterday's title - The Band (see this here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfyjhtOTy1s). Today's title - what was their one and only hit?
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
The lorry drivers want a minimum price for haulage, but President Zapatero's not about to go along with the demand. Quite what also he can do about the soaring rise in diesel costs I've no idea. It's not as if diesel is the only energy product that's been affected; butane gas is up to over 14 euros a bottle, not far off a ten per-cent rise in a couple of months. The costs of energy have increased significantly over the past few months, so when people bang on about prices here being high or having increased, they might spare a thought for the fact that all businesses need to try and recoup those costs, and that includes bars and restaurants. Everyone is affected.
You now start to get the feeling of a conspiracy against the season. The credit crunch was one thing, then the euro-pound lack of kilter, then the weather (and still the weather) and now the energy crisis and the hauliers on strike. You wonder if it can get much worse; perhaps a plague of locusts. A drought on a biblical scale is unlikely though.
And returning to yesterday's piece. It happened again. Same Eroski supermarket, different tourist, different bunch of bananas. Fortunately someone was on hand. Me. I watched the gentleman concerned as he returned to weigh the bananas. Put them on the scale and then looked at the buttons. What he saw was a series of numbers. Which one do you press? You have to know that the numbers are to be found next to the relevant items. I did it for him. And on leaving, I asked the girl at the checkout, from whose queue the gentleman in question had been rebuffed in his initial attempt at payment, why there was no dirty great sign in English (and German) to make it clear that most items of fruit and veg have first to be weighed and that the button corresponding to the number from where the particular fruit or veg has been taken has then to be pressed in order to print the correct label. She quite agreed. So I suggested she brought it up with the management. And you know what? There's a meeting tomorrow and she will. Maybe. But were this dirty great sign to be placed in hopefully a prominent position, the only problem then would be explaining the fact that there are certain items that don't need to be weighed. Confused? You will be.
QUIZ
Chain - Trevor Horn and Geoff Downes of Buggles were, for a while, part of Yes and Horn produced "Owner of a Lonely Heart". And what connection is there between Yes and The Moody Blues? Yesterday's title - The Band (see this here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfyjhtOTy1s). Today's title - what was their one and only hit?
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
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