The trade unions have called for a strike in the public sector of Araba, Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa on 25 October and 19 December. The call was made by the unions LAB, ELA, CCOO, SATSE, Steilas and ESK which represent 85% of the trade union representation in the public sector. UGT has not joined the strike.

The unions have held a press conference on Friday in Bilbao and have called 150,000 workers on strike. They call on the political parties to act in Spanish budgets and to make changes in those of the CAV.

At the press conference they reported that the public service has deteriorated in an "obvious" way and that working conditions have deteriorated. Examples are the following: reductions, low staffing levels, increased workloads and no replacement.

They stress that the public sector is being privatized and that there are already about 100,000 subcontracted workers. They stress that temporality rates are "unacceptable" and that this is even higher among women. They say that the deterioration of working conditions affects women more, for example, that part-time work is more general in the more feminized sectors and that the wage gap is greater than 25%.

According to the trade unions, the Basque institutions remain in surplus: "The EUR 10 billion generated by Basque society as social needs and public services worsen."

Union requirements

They call on the Basque institutions to agree on a number of measures at the negotiating tables. On the one hand, increase wages by 10%. With regard to employment, do not undertake further privatisations and agree on a plan to publish what has already been privatised, with a time limit of less than 8%, do not impose partial days and measures to rejuvenate staff.

Concerning occupational health, they call for measures to be agreed to reduce workloads and for risks to be assessed to ensure the well-being of workers. They stress the need to agree plans to guarantee the "real Euskaldunization" of the Administration, selecting for the first time the staff with Basque knowledge in the provision of a public post and offering resources for their Euskaldunization to the already occupied. Finally, they call for measures that involve "real steps towards equality", such as the negotiation of real and effective equality plans.