Unions Set Up Pickets at Mercabarna as Nov. 11 General Strike Nears
About 200 CCOO and UGT members formed a picket at Mercabarna on Nov. 10, hours before the general strike. Pickets also reached SEAT in Martorell.
Trade unions began picketing Mercabarna, the wholesale food market complex of Barcelona, on the night of Nov. 10, a few hours before the general strike known as 11N got under way. About 200 people from the unions CCOO and UGT formed the first picket there, according to 3CatInfo.
Pickets are also in place at the SEAT factory in Martorell. The main unions have said they will block access to logistics centers and to the depots of TMB (Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona, the city’s bus and metro operator).
Mercabarna on the eve of the strike
The protest outside Mercabarna started around 21:00, as workers on the night shift were arriving. The pickets planned to stop access from 22:00. Trucks were still moving at that hour. Union members had lined up a row of tires and wooden pallets at the entrance, though nobody had set them on fire yet.
According to the public broadcaster, vans from the Mossos d’Esquadra (Catalonia’s police) had arrived to manage access to the site.
What the union leaders said
The general secretaries of CCOO and UGT spoke at the gates and said they trust the strike will succeed. They said people are tired of companies alone keeping the profits.
Belén López, general secretary of CCOO, said collective agreements (the contracts that set pay and conditions by sector or company) are blocked, and she also raised the state agreement on collective bargaining. She called for laws that protect the right to housing so that wages do not end up in the hands of what she called speculators.
López said she is convinced the day will be a success, that the unions will stop the country and send a strong message. If people stop working and producing, she argued, the country does not function, so the choice of what kind of country to have is in the hands of workers.
Employers answer from PIMEC
An informational picket also appeared at the premises of PIMEC, the employers’ organization, according to its general secretary, Josep Ginesta, who spoke to Catalunya Ràdio. Ginesta said companies are not to blame for problems such as housing. He added that a large share of company profits has gone into benefits for employees, and that workers do not see it in their pockets because no tax changes have been made, which he described as the government’s responsibility.
Students lock themselves in at the University of Barcelona
Hours before the strike began, students also took action on campus. They shut themselves inside the Facultat d’Educació (Faculty of Education) of the UB, the University of Barcelona, at the Campus Mundet, with the aim of blocking activity there over the coming hours. A student group posted online an invitation to others to sleep in the Migdia II building and said it was organizing the general strike.
What this means for people in Barcelona
The places named so far are Mercabarna, logistics centers, TMB depots, the SEAT plant in Martorell and the PIMEC offices. Commuters who rely on TMB buses and the metro, and businesses that depend on deliveries, are among those with a stake in how access at those sites is handled. The strike itself starts on Wednesday, Nov. 11.
Source: go.eln.cat
