SPAIN: Millions of workers held a one-day general strike in Spain yesterday, closing businesses and crippling transport services, to protest at changes in the country's unemployment benefit rules.
Up to 100,000 demonstrators brought Seville, the host city for this weekend's meeting of EU leaders, to a halt for several hours under the watchful eye of police.
The strike should not disrupt the European Council, though 15 EU officials attempting to arrive early for the gathering suffered lengthy delays travelling to the southern Spanish city.
Last night, the Spanish trades' unions confederations, UGT and Comisiones Obreras, claimed that more than 80 per cent of workers had obeyed the general strike call.
However, the Prime Minister, Mr José María Aznar, facing the first major workers' revolt in eight years, insisted that little more than 20 per cent had stayed away from offices and factories.
One police officer died from a heart attack, while police arrested several dozen protesters throughout the country. In some cases, arrests were made after sabotage attempts.
Some of the worst incidents took place in Madrid, where shopworkers who disobeyed the strike call were taunted as "scabs" by protesters, some of whom later clashed with riot police.
Under the Aznar proposals, passed by decree last week, benefits would be cut off for those who refuse to accept one of the first three "acceptable" job offers within a 20-km radius of their home.
In addition, the government has begun to reduce benefits for millions of casual farm labourers, and deny workers their salary during often-lengthy appeals against dismissal.
Faced with an 11.3 per cent unemployment rate, Mr Aznar insists that the reforms are necessary to keep Spain competitive and to free up a regimented labour market. Speaking during a break in a meeting of EU finance ministers in Madrid, Finance Minister, Mr Rodrigo Rato said: "There has been nothing even approaching a generalised strike."
The country's national airline, Iberia said 80 per cent of its flights had been grounded. The State-owned railway RENFE cancelled all long-distance trains affecting tens of thousands of tourists.
Threatening court action, union leaders refused to heed an order by Mr Aznar that decreed that 40 per cent of internal flights, and 25 per cent of train and bus schedules, should operate.
Faced with such chaos, multi-national car companies closed their plants and simply gave workers a day's leave, while 30 per cent of hotel workers disrupted holidaymakers on the Costa del Sol when they did not turn up work.
The strike's real economic impact will only be measurable today.
