The monitoring of the general strike that Solidaridad, the trade union branch of Vox, called this Friday throughout Spain against the amnesty for those involved in the trial and the government of Pedro Sánchez was imperceptible. One of the main parameters for measuring the impact of a strike on production activity, electricity consumption, has not undergone significant changes. According to data from Red Eléctrica, this Friday’s electricity consumption at 8:00 a.m., 12:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. was slightly higher than that measured last Friday and was similar to that of a year ago.
The organizing union itself has not provided monitoring data on the strike by sector or company, arguing that the government has not provided it. Nevertheless, its general secretary Rodrigo Alonso was “very satisfied” with the mere fact of “being able to declare a general strike.” Throughout the day, Solidaridad limited itself to broadcasting videos of the pickets provoked in front of the PSOE and UGT headquarters in Madrid and in front of the workers’ commissions in Cornellá (Barcelona).
In front of the UGT federal headquarters, there were clashes between employees of the Socialist Union and members of the Ultra picket line, for which Alonso blamed the former and assured them that they would report them. Vox has traditionally been the toughest party in the picket line’s action, calling for criminal prosecution and saying it should not act outside the workplace or on strike days.
This is how the union parasites greet us when we remind them that they are sellouts.
We’ve been repeating this ever since @solidaridad_esp we don’t duck. We are free, national and unionized, like the workers of Spain. 🫵🇪🇦 pic.twitter.com/XfaQ6X8zoJ
— Pablo González Gasca (@PabloGzlGasca) November 24, 2023
Alonso, although recovering in health, already assured on Wednesday that the workers dismissed from CC OO and UGT were putting pressure on workers who wanted to strike, threatening to denounce them and “put them on the bench”. However, he did not want to name any company where these constraints had arisen.
“The Solidarity strike is monitored by zero people,” said a spokesman for Renfe, where unions canceled five days of strike on Thursday afternoon to protest against the relocation of Rodalies trains to the Generalitat of Catalonia, Efe reports. This also received little attention in the general state administration, as 1,956 public employees went on strike, i.e. 1.33% of the total.
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According to sources from public schools, subsidized education, regional education administrations and family associations, the strike also had no impact on the education system. In Andalusia, for example, the Ministry of Education estimates that 71 out of almost 108,000 teachers in public education are on strike, or 0.07%. A spokesman for the Catholic Schools, the main employer of subsidized education, affirms, in the absence of data, that “there is a feeling of normality”, and a regional official of the same organization assures that this has “no impact” in its territory. The directors of public institutes from various autonomous communities give similar answers. Only one from Madrid claims that in the middle around 5% of students supported the strike, all high school graduates and vocational students (although they suspect it was more about “studying for next week’s exams”), rather than teachers. , informed Ignacio Zafra. There was also no significant follow-up in university education, although Revuelta, Vox’s youth organization, had called for a “general student strike”. It is said that the situation this Friday was normal at the Complutense University or the Autonomous University of Madrid or even in private centers owned by Catholic institutions such as the CEU-San Pablo or the Francisco de Vitoria Elisa Silio.
Those who went on strike following the instructions of the Vox leadership are their officials, such as their community group in the Valencia City Council, although without absenting themselves from plenary sessions and government council meetings, “so as not to harm the voters,” according to sources of the Political party. It is not clear whether they will be withdrawn from the strike day like the workers.
Solidaridad has failed to persuade any union or social organization outside of Vox to join its general strike. The Independent Trade Union and Civil Servants Central (CSIF) ruled out the strike after receiving a FAX requesting it, and the Association of Young Farmers and Ranchers (Asaje) maintained contacts with Solidaridad but did not decide to to support the strike. Both organizations, which are critical of Pedro Sánchez’s pacts with the independents, each have around 200,000 supporters.
In addition to the general strike, the Vox union has called for demonstrations in front of the PSOE headquarters in all provincial capitals. The one in Madrid started at the Arco de la Victoria in the La Moncloa district and reached Ferraz Street. According to the government delegation, around 3,000 people took part in the protest with shouts of “Home!” Work! Solidarity!” or “For Ferraz there will be no peace.” After the departure of the Vox leaders, the Falangist groups took center stage, singing Cara al Sol and cheering José Antonio Primo de Rivera. After 11 p.m. the concentration began without incident to dissolve.
Solidaridad claims to have 250 union delegates, although the Ministry of Labor only has 170; In any case less than 0.1% of the almost 300,000 in Spain. It is more difficult to know how many partners it has. Solidaridad assures that there are more than 16,000. However, only 140 people voted at last year’s annual meeting, even though this was possible electronically. The union no longer reported how many members attended this year’s event.
Solidaridad is the most opaque organization in the Vox network. Unlike the UGT and the workers’ commissions, which it constantly accuses of corruption, the Vox union has not published its accounts since its creation in 2020, despite its general secretary promising to audit them, bring them to transparency and put them at the disposal of the Court of Auditors.
In reality, even union members do not have the accounts but must request them in writing from the general secretary in person or by registered mail before the meeting at which they are approved. EL PAÍS has officially requested the financial statements for the financial years that have already been completed, but has not yet received a response.
Although there were initially doubts about the legality of the general strike – given its political nature and the lack of representativeness of the calling union – the Ministry of Labor accepted it after demanding that formal deficiencies in the original document be corrected. The department headed by Yolanda Díaz claims that “trade union organizations established by law in Spain can call a strike,” even if they are in the minority, “because the regulation is very respectful of this right.” Among other things, the one proposed by the CNT on March 8th Feminist strike called in 2018.
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