N14 protesters in Madrid. Photograph by Teo Ibernón
Workers across the European Union are staging a series of organised protests and strikes against rising unemployment and austerity measures.
In Spain and Portugal, general strikes have halted businesses, schools, and transport with hundreds of flights being cancelled. Clashes between protesters and police have been reported in Madrid.
Greece, Italy, and Belgium have seen smaller strikes and protests across various cities and rallies are planned in other countries under the “N14” or “November 14th” moniker and coordinated by the European Trade Union Confederation with a total of some 40 groups from 23 countries involved in the demonstrations.
This is the first time strikes and protests have been organised on a Europe-wide rather than national levels, with Ramon Gonzalez Boan of the Union Confederation in Galicia, Spain telling Counterfire:
“It is the first time there has been real co-operation among European workers. There have been some important European demonstrations, but for unions across Europe to overcome the differences in their cultures and outlooks and take strike action together is a very big step forward.
As explained by the Confederation’s Judith Kirton-Darling to the BBC, many across Europe see the austerity measures as unfairly putting the burden of rebuilding the troubled financial industries on the middle and lower classes, with the measures are “increasing inequalities…increasing the social instability in society and…not resolving the economic crisis.”