The most dramatic consequence of this situation is unemployment. Enormous job losses - between 30 and 40% in mining and steel — are planned. The weakening of these sectors will cause further job losses in related industries. Zones affected by this de-industrialization are regions of industrial monoculture", and whole populations are afflicted by the scourge of unemployment.
Under these conditions it is easy to understand the spread and size of protests taking the form of local or regional
SINCE the end of 1991, the Spanish State has been affected by a wave of social struggles. At the end of last year, Leon, Asturias, Cartagena and El Ferrol were paralyzed by general strikes. Subsequently the movement has spread through the steel and engineering industries with demonstrations in Cantabria, Andalusia and even in the Canary Islands. Transport has been paralyzed in Madrid and Barcelona and new actions are planned for Galicia and Murcia. These are movements of protest against industrial reconversion, de-industrialization and layoffs resulting from the policies followed by the Spanish government, under pressure from the
SINCE the end of 1991, the Spanish State has been affected by a wave of social struggles. At the end of last year, Leon, Asturias, Cartagena and El Ferrol were paralyzed by general strikes. Subsequently the movement has spread through the steel and engineering industries with demonstrations in Cantabria, Andalusia and even in the Canary Islands. Transport has been paralyzed in Madrid and Barcelona and new actions are planned These are movements of protest against industrial reconversion, de-industrialization and layoffs resulting from the policies followed by the Spanish government, under pressure from the
general strikes over the past six months. The first general strike began in the mining villages of Leon, followed in October 1991 by a general strike that brought Asturias to a halt. In December of that year, it was the turn of Cartagena; in January 1992 the mining basins of Asturias saw two weeks of big mobilizations with clashes with the police as well as in Cartagena where the demonstrators set fire to the regional parliament. In March a general strike is planned for Cantabria and in April for Galicia.
Meanwhile, 20,000 delegates from the two largest union confederations, the Workers Commissions (CCOO) and the General Workers' Union (UGT) from the affected regions assembled in front of affected regions assembled in front of the industry ministry in Madrid to demand action.
### Left perspectives
These conflicts have sparked off debates in the unions on the perspective of a general strike throughout the Spanish State.
This idea, which is supported by the left in the CCOO has also been taken up by some leaders such as Marcelino Camacho, the CCOO president, but the majority of the CCOO and UGT leaderships have ruled it out.
However the question will not go away since the PSOE government is in the process of going on the offensive on all fronts: there is a proposal for an anti-strike law; reductions in social benefits for the unemployed at a time of high and rising unemployment (more than 17%); and flexibility in layoffs to facilitate the reconversion of small and medium-sized enterprises.
Despite the radicalism and size of the mobilizations, the main demands — no job losses and an industrial policy leading to new jobs — will not be easily won, without the imposition of a new economic policy on the government. This is not feasible above all unless the spreading conflicts come together into a general strike.
This is why this issue is central and why its rejection by the trade union leaders is proof of their blindness.
The government is using the prospect of the European single market in the wake of the Maastricht agreement as the pretext to put pressure on the unions with the aim of bringing about a social pact. This idea has not had a very favourable response but it may make headway.
Everything hangs on the outcome of the current battle over reconversion; the stronger the resistance and the mobilizations the more distant will be the prospect of a social pact. *