Well, I would like to discuss the strikes and worker unions and the worker unions and strikes in the public sector, specifically education. And for this discussion I would like to use something that is happenning in my country Spain, and more specifically in Balearic Islands. It is a strike that started past week, with the beginning of the new scholar course. The strike started last monday, and now the strike is starting the second week. The reason for this strike is because the government is trying to reduce the quality of the education, making higher the rate of students for class, and introducing that a percentage of subjects must be taught in English in all levels. In Balearic Islands also we have Catalan and Spanish. And Catalan is the language of teaching, but the government is trying to make that Spanish become the teaching language, even when the parents don't want that. And for this the cuts in education it's being done the strike, but the most interesting of this strike is that is undefined in time. English links about the strike http://www.nationalia.info/en/news/1555 http://forum.ibiza-spotlight.com/thr...c-style.69647/ And a video of today, the "marea verde", "the green wave"(the teachers) singing "l'estaca" (a song against the dictator, written during the Franquist dictatorship and appliable today) front of the parliament [video=youtube;GhL45kbzeS8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhL45kbzeS8[/video]
The government is trying to please the lenders by making cuts that will not bring any significant reduction in spending. We are having the same thing here as well , 8th day of strikes . I wonder why Spanish government chose this time to push the language issue, probably because it makes the headlines instead of cigar boxes ?
I don't know, but I think because it is a good smoke screen. Also it gives votes to the governing party, the PP in the rest of Spain...
