Message of solidarity to striking Spanish workers

28 March 2012

Candido Mendez

General Secretary

UGT

Ignacio Fernandez Toxo

General Secretary

CCOO

Dear Candido, Dear Ignacio,

Message of solidarity to striking Spanish workers

I send greetings and solidarity from the British trade union movement and ordinary workers who, like Spanish workers, are suffering the consequences of Conservative governments' budget cuts and labour market reforms. We believe that further undermining workers' protections and their right to bargain collectively will not create one single new job and that cutting vital public services will hit disproportionately those who are most in need of these services.

This is not the way to economic recovery, these are purely ideological reforms. We in the UK have already experienced the individualisation of labour relations and the decentralisation of collective bargaining years ahead of most other European countries, and yet we've not been immune to the crisis nor have these policies made the UK more competitive or resilient to economic downturns.

Thus I am proud to lend our support to your general strike on 29 March and wish you all the best for the future.

In solidarity,

BRENDAN BARBER

General Secretary