I’m All Right, Juan: A Peculiarly Spanish Strike

How’s your general strike going to be?

Bliss. Day off, an hour’s lie-in, putting the feet up, a trip to the pub or a pleasant long walk on the beach in the autumn sun. The satisfying feeling of not having to bother with the world for 24 hours; a bit like a Sunday.

Being British, we don’t do general strikes. Not since 1926 anyway. My great great uncle Albert may or may not have driven his omnibus for part of May that year. I really couldn’t say. That’ll be because, as far as I’m aware, I had no great great uncle Albert. But the strike of 1926 still has the power to evoke memories and tall tales of distant relatives’ militancy. Its pretext was worsening conditions and reductions in pay. Nothing new, even under a Spanish sun. Same conditions apply.

The thing with general strikes, or their near equivalent, is that they are their own pretexts to enjoy a bit of quality time without the worry of having to put in a full day’s shift. Quality time, such as that down the pub.

It’s 1984 and all that. The miners are on strike. There is a day of action, otherwise known as a day of inaction. It’s a pub in London, just down the road from my office. There are those from the City, those from the Civil Service, and myself, who has willingly taken capitalism’s publishing shilling. Somehow, we’ve all managed to sling a legitimate day of action sicky in order to go and get bladdered. Which is what we do. The joy of strikes.

1984 was the nearest thing to a general strike for over two generations. The day of inaction occurred, conveniently perhaps, a week or so after Orgreave, the awfulness of which should have shocked us out of the facile faux-agitprop of a day’s downing of pens and early PCs. It did, up to a point. And we persevered with our distant support, giving a small infant in hand at a Saturday shopping centre a pound coin to toss into the cap of a miners’ contribution. But this was London, a city unpopulated with mining communities but filled with those of us who still held some flame for the socialism and communism learnt at university and who agonised as to the obvious contradictions as to the benefits we had derived under Thatcher and our loathing of the woman.

1984 was the tipping-point. It was the breaking of unions and the putting together of the smug societal complacency that followed and which still exists: complacency that has been an inoculation against empathy with the less advantaged. It is the ironic transplantation of the “I’m All Right, Jack” couldn’t-care-lessness of Peter Sellers’ shop steward. In a different context, it manifested itself, or rather failed to, through the embarrassed feet-gazing submissiveness of a nation, doormatted by Blair over Iraq, that failed to take to the streets in disgust.

But that’s Britain. Spain is, or was, something different, before it, too, joined the European complacency union. It can still throw up a beardy ogre such as Cándido Méndez, head of the UGT, but some day soon, on the equivalent to “Have I Got News For You”, he will appear on it, as cuddly as Bob Crow once was on the original.

General strike, Spanish-style in 2010, is a quaint parody of union muscle. Spain still does general strikes, and so they come around now and then, like irregular fiestas. But when the call goes out, fiesta-like, everyone heads off to the bar. There is not the sense of a descent into the chaos verging on anarchy that has been prescribed for Greece. The crisis has been a particularly Spanish crisis, one of a bit of a protest for form’s sake, combined with a docility of aspirational wealth. To borrow from Marx, the changes in Spanish society, the product of the boom years, have been the opium that sedates the people in worshipping the religion of self-interest. And who, in truth, can blame them, despite the potential for losses in earnings and pensions, the basis for the general strike? 2010 is Spain’s tipping-point, and chances are it will follow the same pattern hereafter as Britain.

Public Sector General Strike In Mallorca (8 June)

In line with strikes in other regions of Spain, there is to be a public sector general strike across the Balearics in protest at measures adopted by the Zapatero administration to tackle Spain’s parlous economic situation.

The strike will take place on Tuesday, 8 June. All the main unions are supporting the strike and have the additional support of the unions for the police and the Guardia Civil. To what extent the police will be affected by the strike is unclear, but areas of the public sector which will most certainly be affected are – among others – health services, schools, colleges and the university, train services and the town halls. There will be minimal services at hospitals, similar to those on Sundays, and the regional government has said that there will be services for other areas affected by the strike. It has advised, for example, that children be taken to schools as usual, though the indications are that most teachers will be on strike. At present, it is unclear whether the transport sector, other than trains, will be affected. Were it to be, then there could be an impact on airports, ports and buses.

The Webs They Weave

Well, that didn’t last long.

The latest version of the timeshare/holiday club/call it what you want outfit in Puerto Alcúdia has closed. Or at least the office is closed at the moment. That office is what was the AIC and Casabonaire estate agencies near to the Magic roundabout. It goes under the name of Sun & Sea Resorts. Go try googling that and see where it gets you, just like the previous incarnation – To Holiday – would have produced thousands, millions of possibilities. You have to ask why the choice of name is so vague.

I am only guessing, but something that happened on Thursday may have to do with this apparent closure. Tourism was in town, as in the tourism ministry inspectors. They were checking on registrations and documents. Whatever the outcome may or may not be if one is unlucky to be taken in by the scratch-cardists, the basis of the business is meant to be the sale of holidays. This being the case, as far as I understand it, there has to be a licence to act as a travel agency, one that is issued by the government. But I am only guessing. Maybe just a coincidence. Don’t be surprised if the operation re-emerges, with the “consultants” hanging around on street corners with their cards inside Burger King literature. One trusts that Burger King is suitably impressed, and one has to ask another question – why try and disguise what you’re doing?

While the signs on the doors to the office say Sun & Sea, peer inside and you can see the name Interval. It’s very difficult to know, but the Timeshare Council includes a couple of Intervals on its black list. And this highlights one, just one, of the problems with these operations; you really don’t know who you are ultimately dealing with. The web is very tangled.

And also tangled would appear to be the web surrounding a multi-million pound racket that has been the subject of police action. Based in Mallorca, the swindle has been investigated in a joint operation by the Spanish national police and Scotland Yard, and offices in the south of the island were raided on Thursday. With links to Switzerland, the fraudulent operation promised returns of 30 per cent. In the report from the “Diario” it says that fictitious companies were created related to gold, fuel or travel.

A general strike is still on the cards. Originally it was planned for 20 May, then 2 June was mentioned. It is still not clear when it might be staged. 8 June is now a possibility, but whenever it takes place, assuming it actually does, some businesses are expressing their concerns. A general strike of public sector workers would include the police. There is talk, apparently, of security firms being hired for the day or of closing for the day. This may all be an over-reaction, but some are obviously taking the potential threat of no police on duty seriously.

Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.