La huelga general, the General Strike, called in Spain for today, 29 September, has turned out to be a bit of a damp squib, at least down here in our corner of southern Spain.

Expecting huge disruption, based on the claims of the biggest unions, that most workers would down tools today, in Ronda, at least, things seemed to be pretty normal. 

In the town centre nearly everywhere was open this morning, including, somewhat surprisingly, all of the banks, most of the shops, bars and restaurants.

The car parks were open, postmen were out delivering and Miguel, the streetcleaner, was on duty, taking his morning coffee break in the same bar as me.  We watched, somewhat surprised as the TV news was showing striking workers and picket lines as far afield as Madrid, Bilbao and Barcelona. 

Air travel has been massively disrupted. Three couples I know, due to fly back to the UK today, have to wait until Saturday for available seats on flights. Other transport services are only running a skeleton service.  Emergency services are maintaining a bank holiday level of service.

As I drove back to my village through Ronda’s industrial estate, the big supermarkets were open and so were all the car dealers.  A handful of premises were shut, but most factories and depots seemed to be operating as normal.

So, why is there so little participation here?  Well, we all know that throughout history the andaluces have refused to be told what to do. Just ask Franco! Or, more to the point, as Miguel said:  “I can’t afford to give up a day’s wages!”

©  Paul Whitelock

See also:

General Strike in Spain - 29 September

Huelga general

Generalstreik in Spanien

www.a1-solutions-spain.com

Tags: huelga general, General Strike, unions, damp squib, Ronda, Paul Whitelock