The planned strike action occurs after a massive protest of nearly 1 million people in Italy March 25 condemned the govern-ment’s plan to rewrite the country’s labor legislation making it easier for bosses to fire workers, and after strikes in Germany by more than 100,000 metalworkers over the course of 10 days last month for a wage increase.

The unionists in Spain are protesting proposals promoted by Prime Minister José María Aznar to cut wage payments to workers fired by their employers while labor courts rule on their appeals. Aznar is also pushing to deny unemployment benefits to those who refuse jobs offered within a 31-mile radius of their hometown. He also is seeking to phase out unemployment subsidies for temporary agricultural workers who are entitled to a monthly state income of $270 if they can prove that they have been employed for 32 days a year.

The strike is being planned jointly by the General Workers Union and Workers Commission, federations that represent 2 million workers.

The official unemployment rate in Spain is nearly 13 percent--the highest in the European Union. Some areas of the country like Extremadura and Andalusia, among the nation’s poorest regions, have higher unemployment rates. Union representatives have pointed out that even prior to these proposed new measures more than 40 percent of Spanish workers currently out of a job are denied unemployment benefits.

Meanwhile, in Portugal, trade unions are planning a one-day general strike against government moves to privatize parts of the social security and pensions programs.  
 
 
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