【英语国际】西班牙国家雇员举行大规模罢工

Spain's public-sector workers went on strike Tuesday, in what could be a run-up to a general strike in response to recent spending cuts the government has announced to reduce its large budget deficit.

According to Comisiones Obreras, Spain's largest union, 75% of Spain's 2.6 million state employees stayed away from work; the government estimated 12% of workers didn't show up.

The strike is a challenge to austerity measures totaling 15 billion euros($17.88 billion) this year and next, including a 5% cut in public-sector wages this year and a freeze in pensions next year. Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero won parliamentary approval for the measures last month by a single vote.

Financial markets are watching to see whether Spain and other highly indebted euro-zone countries have the political muscle to overcome popular resistance to painful austerity plans.

Ignacio Toxo, head of Comisiones Obreras, said the austerity measures will prolong the economic crisis. 'This will result in an increase of our already dramatically high unemployment rate,' Mr. Toxo said in a speech.

Spain is grappling with a 20% unemployment rate amid the collapse of its labor-intensive construction industry.

The public-sector strike is the first step in a series of protests and could lead to a general strike. In addition to the austerity measures, unions are concerned that a coming overhaul of labor laws could harm workers' rights.

The government is under intense international pressure from financial markets and the European Union to rein in a double-digit deficit as the Greek financial crisis has spread to other fiscally frail countries.

Institutions such as the International Monetary Fund say a radical overhaul of labor laws is necessary to spur growth in Spain and to lower high unemployment. Mr. Zapatero has pledged to approve a labor-market overhaul June 16, with or without an agreement with unions and business groups, a move that represents a dramatic break with previous policy.

西班牙公共部门的员工周二举行罢工，以抗议近期政府为削减庞大的预算赤字而宣布的开支缩减计划。本次罢工有可能演化成一场总罢工。

西班牙最大的工会组织劳工委员会(Comisiones Obreras)称，西班牙260万国家雇员中的75%参加了罢工，而西班牙政府估计12%的员工未出勤。

Reuters西班牙马拉加政府职员举行罢工抗议财政紧缩计划此次罢工对今明两年总额达150亿欧元(约178.8亿美元)的紧缩方案构成挑战，该方案包括今年公共部门薪资减少5%以及明年养老金冻结。社会党籍的西班牙首相萨帕特罗(Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero)上月以一票之优势取得了国会对该措施的批准。

金融市场正在关注，看西班牙及其它负债严重的欧元区国家的政府是否有能力化解公众对痛苦的紧缩措施的抵制情绪。

西班牙劳工委员会负责人Ignacio Toxo说，紧缩措施将延长经济危机。他在一次演讲中说，这将导致国内已极高的失业率进一步攀升。

西班牙劳动力密集型的建筑业崩溃，导致目前失业率高达20%。

公共部门雇员罢工是一系列抗议活动的第一步，并可能导致总罢工。除了紧缩措施外，工会组织还担心，即将对劳动法进行的改革有可能危及雇员的权利。

随着希腊金融危机已向其它财政状况不佳的国家蔓延，西班牙政府面临金融市场及欧盟(European Union)要求其控制两位数的财政赤字的极大压力。

国际货币基金组织(International Monetary Fund)等机构称，对劳动法进行一次彻底的改革对促进西班牙经济增长及降低高企的失业率是必要的。萨帕特罗已同意于6月16日批准劳动力市场改革，而不管工会及商界组织是否同意，该举措与以往的政策有很大不同。