What is it about bosses who don’t pay their workers here in Spain?

I know of a number of employers who seem to think it’s OK not to pay their employees!  Why is that?  Surely loyal, hardworking staff are the best resource a company has.  Most bosses I know, pay their staff first and foremost, before anyone else – surely the right thing to do, whatever the state of the business.

I’ve experienced the problem here myself in the past and so has an English lady acquaintance of mine who has recently “downed tools” till she is paid what she is owed.  A Swedish friend has recently resigned his job in protest at the large amount he is owed by his employers.

You might be thinking that this is typical of the Spanish, ripping off us vulnerable guiris, but, no, these were all English bosses!  Why is that? 

Popular myth would suggest that such behaviour is typical on the Costa del Crime.  I don't know whether that's the case, but these three cases all happened in small villages in the Serranía de Ronda. 

Whatever happened to good old English honour?