Trade unions claim the values of strike and labour struggle on 1 May
- Thousands of workers have met in demonstrations and events in Pamplona, Bilbao, Vitoria, San Sebastian, Baiona and Maule. All trade unions have called for strike action as an essential tool for defending and securing workers’ rights. LAB moves for the first time in Baiona along with the intersindindika, without segregation. EHKS has held a massive demonstration in Bilbao.
May 1st, another year, the workers have taken to the streets of Euskal Herria and around the world. Bilbao, Vitoria, Pamplona and Baiona have been the main mobilisations. The unions have taken the opportunity to make their demands and to draw attention to the red lines, and in their speeches the messages to the new Basque government have been constant.
ELA: "The more strikes, the better results."
ELA Secretary General Mitxel Lakuntza has pointed out to thousands of people in Bilbao the need to strengthen public services and warned the employers and governments of the need for this union to continue to move towards confrontation by valuing the strike: "The more strikes, the better results."
On the contrary, to the leftist parties in the opposition, Lakuntza has asked them not to reach a "popular" agreement with those who "promote privatization and taxation in favour of economic powers", because it says that "these popular agreements are possible if the contents of the right are approved".
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LAB in Baiona, at the trade union
LAB has made the largest demonstration in Pamplona. General coordinators Garbiñe Aranburu and Igor Arroyo have proven that the union has just turned 50 years to highlight what has been achieved so far through the labour struggle. LAB has for the first time overcome the 50,000 member barrier.
Aranburu says they will continue to fight for "dignified and stimulating lives." For his part, Arroyo has put on the table a 30-hour working week and many other demands. It is precisely the reduction in working hours that has been one of this year’s main trade union demands.
LAB has also demonstrated in Baiona, in the mobilisation organized for the first time by the union. LAB has taken to the streets of Bayona with unions CGT, CFDT, FSU, Solidaries and UNSA after several years of segregation. Eñaut Aramendi, a member of the Abertzale trade union, has denounced that the French Government is trying to cut the right to strike and has promised to continue to fight for this not to happen.
Red flags in Bilbao by the hand of EHKS
One of the most massive demonstrations last May took place in Bilbao with EHKS. The red flags in hand, thousands of people have claimed that International Workers' Day is not a "day of memory" and have opted for socialist revolution.
"What we want to demand today is the need to take on the revolutionary heritage of the decades of the world proletariat, to update the teachings and to continue building the workers' power against capitalist society," explained the members of the Socialist Council of Euskal Herria, according to the journalist worker Gedar.
The genocide against Gaza has also been recalled during the EHKS demonstration. In almost all trade union movements, Palestinian flags have also been seen and there have been calls and messages in favour of the Palestinian people.
CCOO and UGT leave together in the four capitals of Hego Euskal Herria. The Secretary General of UGT and the Basque Country, Raúl Arza, also referred to the new Basque Government and sent him a note saying that when they are left with no "other remedy" they will continue to use the strike as an instrument for defending their rights.
CNT moves "beyond folklore"
Workers from different sectors participated in Bilbao at the end of the mobilization. They demand, among other things, the centrality of the working world and the need to regain the trade union struggle. They have also denounced the "pro-war" situation in Europe and the world: "they want to impose Keynesianism of war on us as an element of economic revival of states of war and capital".
Changes in Paris and other cities
Around the world, millions of people have gathered in major cities to celebrate May One and claim workers’ rights.
In Paris there are riots when thousands of people travel to Bastilla. The Palestinian conflict and the business and speculation of the Olympic Games have been the main variables in these protests in the French capital. There have also been incidents between demonstrators and police in Athens and Istanbul.
In May you can do whatever you want, says an old Russian in French and I think that is the case. The days extend, the temperature swells, and some air caresses the brain. To tell the truth, my brain begins to close at the end of March: I read three books a day, I go running and... [+]
