Spain strike: Unions claim victory

A protester injured during clashes in Madrid

MADRID, Spain -- Pickets clashed with police, many shops were closed and hundreds of flights were cancelled on Thursday as Spain's first general strike in eight years brought parts of the nation to a standstill.

Demonstrators also blocked roads and a bus station in Seville on the eve of Friday's summit of EU leaders. (Summit preview)

Police arrested 31 strikers, in some cases as they sought to keep people from entering their workplaces. Two people were arrested for trying to stick nails and silicone in door locks to shut workers out, The Associated Press reported.

CNN's Madrid Bureau Chief Al Goodman said union leaders had pronounced the 24-hour strike a success, with government officials countering that there had been a low turnout.

Spanish unions said 85 per cent of workers heeded the call and brought sectors such as car plants, textiles, chemicals, mining and construction to a near standstill.

CNN NewsPass VIDEO Spanish unions claimed victory in their one-day strike, but government officials disputed that. CNN's Al Goodman reports (June 20) Play video   MORE STORIES • Strikers send message to Seville  • Strike brings Europe travel chaos    PICTURE GALLERY Images from the Spanish strike    RESOURCES Strike action: When and where?

Economic Minister Rodrigo Rato however called the strike a "failure," with the Interior Ministry adding that only 16 percent of the labour force had downed tools.

The strike was called the day before the Seville summit by Spain's largest labour confederations UGT and CCOO, who called on 15 million workers to stay off work on Thursday to protest against unemployment benefit changed they said were an attack on workers' rights.

The Workers Commissions, a labour federation, told AP that in at least three areas of Madrid police rushed demonstrators after skirmishes and heated verbal exchanges.

Dolores Moreno, a spokeswoman for Spain's other main labour group, the General Workers Federation, told AP she saw police in riot gear attack members leaving the group's Madrid regional office to head toward a picket line at a bus station. One striker was bleeding from the head, she said.

The Interior Ministry said the police intervened because the union members were trying to block a major thoroughfare.

People fill the street in Vigo, northwestern Spain during a demonstration to mark the general strike

Parts of Madrid city centre looked anything but business-as-usual. In the normally bustling shopping streets around the Puerta del Sol, many stores were shuttered. Many stores also closed in Barcelona, Spain's second largest city.

Outside the Corte Ingles department store, riot police with black helmets and truncheons stood guard to fend off a crowd of whistle-blowing strikers.

The pickets, most apparently working elsewhere, screamed obscenities at anyone who entered or left the store. Frightened shoppers scurried away.

Saturnino Benito, a 41-year-old butcher, took issue with Aznar's plans to halt welfare payments to unemployed people who snub job offers three times.

"It is like calling Spanish workers lazy and scum," he told AP. "It's just not right."

The government's unemployment reform, passed by decree last week, would also eliminate salary payments to Spanish workers who have been fired and are appealing in court. It would also curtail payments to temporary farm workers. The Spanish jobless rate is about 13 percent.

Clashes and other incidents were reported around the country, but there were no major cases of violence.

Buses provided minimal service, as mandated by the government, and the Madrid metro system ran with about half its normal number of trains.

Trade unions called the strike to protest against cuts in benefits

Two-thirds of the 1,000-plus arrivals and departures at Madrid's Barajas airport were canceled. Nationwide, the flagship carrier Iberia ran just 20 percent of its scheduled flights. Iberia says the strike is being respected in part by pilots, flight attendants and ground crew. The protest is unrelated to Wednesday's strike by air traffic controllers in many European countries. (Full story)

State-run Spanish TV scrapped its regular morning talk shows and ran 1960s movies or cartoons.

Spain's last general strike was in 1994, when Felipe Gonzalez, a Socialist, was prime minister. It was called to protest his overall economic policy, blamed among other things for soaring unemployment.