The trade unions ELA, LAB, CCOO, Steilas, SATSE and ESK have convened two days of strike in the public sector of Araba, Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa on 25 October and 19 December. This Wednesday is the first unemployment and there are 150,000 people called to it. A significant impact on schools, health, administration, transport and public services in general is expected.

Minimum "excessive" services

The trade unions denounce that the minimum services established by the Basque Government are "excessive". Thus, many workers will have to go to work to fulfil this government mandate, for example, the Osakidetza CAP has a minimum of 100%.

"At a time of evident decay of public services, such as the shortage of personnel or the lack of substitutions, it seems that these factors are of immediate importance when the strike comes," the callers complain.

However, thousands of people are expected to go to the streets to denounce the "deterioration" suffered by public services. Among the reasons for the strike are the recovery of the 20% lost purchasing power, the reduction of temporality, the renewal of staff, the completion of the part-sessions and the wage gap or the dignification of subcontracting.

Urkullu and "populists"

The Basque Government’s advisers and officials have strongly criticised the call for a strike by saying that “we live well” the Basques and that there is no reason for such a mobilisation. Iñigo Urkullu accuses the unions of being "populists" in a letter published in Spanish in the journals of the Vocento group and later in those of the Noticias group in Euskera.

The words of lehendakari have brought an urgent and stormy response. For ELA Secretary General Mitxel Lakuntza, for example, "the most reactionary discourse of the employers" is sweeping and Urkullu is "disconnected from the reality of this country". LAB Secretary General Garbiñe Aranburu, meanwhile, sees lehendakari "in a bubble and away from citizens' concerns."

Mobilisations in capitals

The first mobilisations and pillars have begun in the morning. In Vitoria one of the columns will go to Lakua. The most massive demonstrations are expected at noon in the capitals at 11:30. From the delegation of the Basque Government in Bilbao, from the Basque Parliament in Vitoria and from the Boulevard in Donostia.