The general strike called by the unions against the opposition to demand better wages and affordable housing and rental prices will continue despite the request of the leader of the Popular Party (PP), Alberto Núñez Feijóo, who asked that it be canceled due to the train tragedy in Urda (Toledo). Pepe Álvarez, general secretary of UGT, responded to the presidential candidate with a clear and very forceful message: “I want to tell the right and the extreme right to lose all hope, because the strike is going to happen.”
He said this at an assembly in Vallecas (Madrid) organized to prepare the day (which will cost between 58 and 78 euros to anyone who earns 1,500 euros gross if they support it), where he explained that the protest no longer belongs only to the union organizations. “The strike today belongs to the citizens, it no longer belongs only to the unions,” he pointed out, and recalled that it was born very linked to the demands for housing for all.
Salaries, hours and artificial intelligence
The union wants the mobilization to open a negotiation process with the employers to raise salaries. “We want the CEOE to be fully aware that the vast majority of workers in our country seek to open a negotiation process to reach an agreement that allows us to negotiate collective agreements that share the wealth that is being generated in our country, which is a lot,” Álvarez stressed.
The other axis is work time. For the UGT leader, the arrival of technology changes the accounts, because “artificial intelligence is making us work and produce more with fewer people every day.” A few words after which he concluded that fewer hours should be worked, an issue that the Minister of Labor and Social Economy, Yolanda Díaz, has already defended on other occasions.
Álvarez has also censored the tone of Feijóo and Santiago Abascal. “I want to think that they have not threatened us, because it would be very strong if Mr. Feijóo and Mr. Abascal, in a coordinated manner, one more gently and the other more clearly, have threatened the union organizations of our country,” he warned, adding that this way “this electoral campaign process would get off to a bad start.”
The resignation of Puente and the relief of Corps
In the same speech, Álvarez has valued the “important management capacity” of Carlos Body, first vice president and Minister of Economy, whom Pedro Sánchez has chosen to take charge of Transport after the resignation of Óscar Puente. The minister’s departure seems to him an “act of dignity” and “an example,” after two train accidents in his three years in office.
The union leader also spoke about the elections in the United States, where the victory of the Democrats is, in his opinion, “a very big day” for Americans. “In the United States, as in Spain, the extreme right has one objective, which is the union organizations,” he assured.
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On the 11th he expects “a very important labor strike that will generate mobilizations in the streets that will mark a before and after in this country,” concludes Pepe Álvarez.