“Month after month, electricity bills, heating, gasoline, food, housing and transport are increasing. The whole of society is suffering from this situation”, underline the organizers of this strike which comes to add to a series of walkouts and demonstrations, which have shaken Spain and its government for ten days.
The country has thus been confronted since March 14 with an indefinite strike by truckers, launched by a platform of independent transporters, worried about the boom in fuel prices. This movement, which is accompanied by multiple roadblocks, is seriously disrupting the supply of supermarkets and certain businesses.
The government is also facing a strike by fishermen, who stopped work Monday for three days at the call of a federation of nearly 9,000 boats. Objective there again: to denounce the prices of diesel, which lead the fishermen to work at a loss, according to this federation.
The anger has also spread to breeders and farmers, hit hard by the rising cost of fertilizers and raw materials. Nearly 150,000 of them came to demonstrate on Sunday in the center of Madrid, with fluorescent chasubles reminiscent of the movement of “yellow vests”.
“Act in unity”
This movement of social discontent – the most important since the coming to power in 2018 of socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez – has received the support of opposition parties, and in particular of Vox (extreme right), which organized its own gatherings in several cities in Spain. This ultra-nationalist formation, currently in full swing, is surfing on the discontent of part of the population, particularly in rural areas, accusing the government of “ruining the middle classes” and the “most disadvantaged” people.
An uncomfortable situation for the Executive, which has taken multiple measures in recent months to increase low wages and contain energy prices but sees its efforts reduced to almost nothing by the inflationary spiral.
Anxious to defuse criticism, Pedro Sanchez promised ten days ago a “national plan” on the economic impact of the war in Ukraine, with significant tax cuts.
An envelope of 500 million euros has also been put on the table to compensate for the increase in the price of diesel for transporters. On Wednesday morning, Mr. Sanchez said he was “convinced” that the government would reach an agreement “this week” with the carriers.