SPAIN: Street sweepers hope rotting meat in Madrid alleyways will reverse planned job cuts as they start an indefinite strike

Record ID: 341216

  • Title: SPAIN: Street sweepers hope rotting meat in Madrid alleyways will reverse planned job cuts as they start an indefinite strike
  • Date: 5th November 2013
  • Summary: MADRID, SPAIN (NOVEMBER 5, 2013) (REUTERS) MADRID GARDENERS HOLDING LARGE BANNER READING "NO TO SLAVERY" IN FRONT OF MADRID CITY HALL WOMAN HOLDING SIGN READING "WHO WILL TAKE CARE OF MADRID, BOTELLA?" AND THEN TURNING IT AROUND TO THE OPPOSITE SIDE READING "DON'T PLAY WITH OUR JOBS" CITY HALL / PROTESTERS WITH BANNER READING "NO TO PUBLIC SERVICE CUTS" POLICE /PROTESTERS
  • Embargoed: 20th November 2013 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Spain
  • Country: Spain
  • Topics: Economic News,Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA2559JMU8BAAV51F1SBJBOKLU9
  • Story Text: Madrid's street sweepers and public park and garden workers kicked off an indefinite strike at midnight on Tuesday (November 5) to protest against plans to shave off over 1,100 jobs.
    Three of the four private companies providing Madrid City Hall with street sweeping and park maintenance services announced staff adjustment plans that would see 1,135 positions go.
    Many of the workers blame Madrid Mayor Ana Botella saying the work was farmed out to private companies which provided unrealistic budgets leaving them no option but to sack people if they wanted to make a profit. "The mayor has allowed a company she knew was not able to work with that kind of budget, so what we are doing is fighting for our jobs," Angel Jornosa, 58, who works for one of the park and garden concessions said.

    "We've been working for years and they are going to kick us out with a shameful severance pay. There are people who have worked 28, 30 years," he added during a protest outside Madrid City Hall on Tuesday with colleagues and supporters from the city hall.

    "After signing a contract with Madrid City Hall and taking the entire cleaning and environment sector, they have said what do we do now? Let's fire people and see if it's profitable," Guillermo a city hall employee said . "We think it's enough, this has to end once and for all. Health, education, the city, public services in general have all gone to hell," he added.
    On Tuesday, Madrid City Hall was working with 40 percent minimum services in the street sweeping department.
    Some Madrid residents woke to find many of the streets littered with rubbish after street sweepers had strewn rubbish in demonstration a day earlier.

    "This is so bad. One thing is to strike and another to litter the place like this, especially in a touristy neighbourhood like this," Alba Lucia said as she stood in a rubbish-littered street in Madrid's central Barrio de Las Letras, a stone's throw from the iconic Prado Museum and the former neighbourhood of literary greats such as Miguel de Cervantes, author of Don Quijote, and playwright and poet Felix Arturo Lope de Vega.
    Jazmine, an Australian national living in Madrid, said the strike had made a clear impact.

    "I think it's really powerful. One day they don't work and look at what we see and I think we forget how much they do for the city," she said. "It's quite obvious how much work they are doing and how dirty the city looks now. Hopefully it will get the message across."
    Police said they detained five people and identified another 29 overnight in different neighbourhoods of the Spanish capital after reports of damages and public disorder. Cars were burnt alongside rubbish containers police said.
    The strike comes as Spain's labour ministry announced a rise in jobless numbers at the end of the tourist season dashing hopes that tentative signs of an economic recovery would bring more jobs.
    With an increase of 87,028 people unemployed in October the total number of jobless is now 4.81 million.
    The government was quick to announce the end of a two-year recession in the third quarter but economists warned that the recovery is likely to be muted as Spain continues to fight fiscal imbalances and massive unemployment.
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