Spain - Strike leads to closure of Madrid’s metro - June 29, 2010

On Monday 28 and Tuesday 29 June, a two days’ strike forced the closure of Madrid’s metro system on the second day. While the announced public sector pay cuts were not originally aimed at public company workers such as transport, Madrid's regional conservative government extended the cuts to the metro employees. Under Spanish law workers are supposed to provide agreed minimum levels of services, which kept Madrid's underground rail service running about 50% of trains on the first day. On Monday evening, an assembly of workers decided to make Tuesday a total walkout, a union spokesman said, breaking minimum service agreements for the first time in the last two decades.

English: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE65S1E620100629

This article was published in the Collective Bargaining Newsletter. It aims to facilitate information exchange between trade unions and to support the work of ETUC's collective bargaining committee. For more information, please contact the editor Maarten van Klaveren, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies (AIAS) M.vanKlaveren@uva.nl. You may find further information on the ETUI atwww.etui.org, and on the AIAS at www.uva-aias.net. © ETUI aisbl, Brussels 2009.