He had been working in the same company for six years and decided to apply for a non-paid seniority. They gave it to him... and fifteen days later he was thrown out. I recently heard a woman on the bus. In short, Zabaleta says that unfair dismissal is cheap for companies and that the aim of big companies, banks and authorities is to make as much money as possible, maintaining the philosophy behind the crisis: “All the actions that are being carried out in the face of the crisis seek not to change the structure, to support the assembly that we know, but that is a mistake, because although in recent years it has given us false growth because there is a structural problem behind it, this system does not work and we have to look for alternatives.” This system has led to

a decline in working conditions, has led to restrictions to the condition of the welfare state and has generalized precariousness. Yes, the risk of becoming vital precarious is close to being perpetuated by today’s young people, because we have moved from “funicular” to “carousel” lives, as sociology professor Gorka Moreno said in the opinion section of Luz (number 2.251): “Many who started out as first pawns were getting higher salaries and better jobs over time, and thereby securing decent retirement pensions.” Past lives were always on the rise. Now, however, the certainty of income and the guarantee of a fixed position has been lost, even for the most experienced, because they cost the system dearly, says sociologist Xabier Aimedio. In his opinion, it is the beginning of a new era, because the productive process has already begun to generate surpluses, there is no need for so many workers, and in addition, the more efficient production according to the logic of the system, the more unemployment will be generated. “There aren’t enough people to buy enough cars, so the solution can’t be to make more cars! It is said that consumption needs to be stimulated, and at the same time people are thrown out of the companies. The current system is unfair and there does not seem to be a chance to turn it

around.” The four young people we have invited to talk about it also see the future as bleak. Unai San Sebastián and Unai Kerejeta hope that the crisis will pass, but they perceive that this time it is a different crisis, that the evil situation will last for a long time. For Amagoia Ruiz, the companies have taken advantage of it to establish more precarious working conditions, with a sharp fall in wages, and once the job starts to emerge again, it will not be possible to recover the old characteristics so easily: “I would say that they will take advantage of it for many years to see if we do not fall into another crisis on that

path...” The first slap is received with the trainee practices. Zabaleta would like to work in the area of communication, but she finds it difficult because of the strong competition, which is dominated by precariousness: “I worked at Radio Euskadi during the summer and I saw people who were very valuable, but at the end of the internship they were thrown out on the streets because it is not economically convenient for them to make the contract. Take another for the same position again, with less knowledge and experience, and move on. They don’t care if they give less quality if it comes out

cheaper.” San Sebastián and Kerejeta work in two modules with the aim of doing internships in companies in the Goierri area and staying there if it goes well. In their field, they say that companies do not play games to take advantage of the scholarship holders, and they have not lost hope that there will be work. “The question is under what conditions,” Zabaleta adds. In Gipuzkoa unemployment may not be as high, but taking advantage of the crisis the conditions have fallen a lot, people are willing to accept anything for getting a job, because they are mortgaged and suffocated.” Kerejeta says that in the first metalworking industry they went from Bizkaia to Gipuzkoa looking for workers and that people chose the job according to conditions and salary, “but that’s over, now the situation is the other way around”. And in addition, companies have prepared people at their

doorstep. Moreover, they are often overqualified and overqualified for the jobs they obtain. Zabaleta says that her father works in a company and this is the daily bread: because of their very good CVs, all the young people who enter now are offered much lower salaries, in very precarious conditions, “and everyone says yes”. The same conjecture has noticed the generational change in the university: “It is not possible that the one who does a job like me, for having been born 25 years after me, wins my sixth; and in college it is so: the substitutes charge a maximum of 500-600 euros. In companies, the conditions are even worse, and this cannot be tolerated, it should embarrass us, encourage us to think.” In these

conditions, it is very difficult for young people to leave their parents' home. Kerejeta lives with his girlfriend, and since the couple is working, the mortgage is portable for now, but the Urretxu ends his unemployment in March “and then there will be comedies”, he has no choice but to find a job after the practices so that the mortgage doesn’t suffocate them. San Sebastián, as things are now, finds it impossible to enter only into a flat, and Zabaleta is clear that buying it is not at hand, even after finishing his career this year and getting a job in his field: “I will probably have to go with a group of friends to rent and still gravely, because the rent itself is suicide right now! Otherwise, I’ll have to act like a lot of my friends: in a job during the week, and in a bar-or at the weekend, I mean, like a servant.”

Zabaleta had a discussion with a friend who decided to clear up his doubts: he asked his father for the payroll of 30 years ago and the price of the house he had bought at that time; he then compared it with his current father’s payroll and the price of the house and found that the proportion has increased enormously – imagine if the exercise is done with the salary of the young rookie. Zabaleta is in favour of social renting, but staying at her parents’ house is the only option for many. “I’ve seen more than one case in the area: buying a house, then not being able to maintain it, renting it and going back to my parents.”

Looking for an alternative

To face the panorama, the four young interlocutors have chosen the studies: the vocational training module after unemployment Kerejeta and San Sebastián, combined with the work of the bar Communication studies Zabaleta, and the thesis of Fine Arts Ruiz: “In the next decade there will be many university professors retiring and my goal is to get that job, but who knows when, maybe within ten years... What to do in the meantime? Keep learning and working on everything with patience. At the bar, I’ve been teaching classes, cashiers..., often without contracts and with bad conditions, but as long as I don’t forget the final goal, I don’t care if the road is hard.” They have complained that the studies are generally very theoretical, but it is better to prepare

than to be left without work and without homework. The other alternatives? San Sebastián is clear that starting your own business is risky, “big companies are bad and we would have a hard time competing too.” In the words of Kerejeta, “we will all have to end up traveling abroad, to Germany or Switzerland, as in the past.” But Zabaleta does not like this idea: “I’ve heard a lot of people come out and I’ve thought about it, but I’m Basque and I want to do my future there if possible. It would be a shame if the only alternative was to go outside. This is where we must seek solutions, build a fairer society, and for this society must be the owner of its economy. This crisis has given us the opportunity to do so, for example when all the banks have fallen one after the other, they could have opted for nationalisation.”

A change of mentality

At a time when the debate on degrowth is in full swing, I have asked my interlocutors if the crisis could be an opportunity to change mentality, if it is time to take the path towards austerity in relation to the prosperity of recent years. Kerejeta says that after being so well acquainted, it is not easy to adapt to the new situation, but in his case it will not cost him because his previous salary was not very good. For San Sebastián, to live well would be to meet with friends, to have a regular dinner at the local community and to be able to go to work on Mondays, he doesn’t think that it takes much more to lead a decent life, and Ruiz would be content to have only one job, Monday to Friday, and if it’s a job he’ll be happy to do, it’s a lot of hours in the workplace. “The salary doesn’t have to be high, but enough to live well, and it’s not good to have money to go on vacation, for example, our parents didn’t go on vacation and we are going more and more, not only in the summer, but now also on any holidays and bridges.” Is it good to travel, to have two cars or to

have brand clothes? Some people believe that we have brought happiness to material things. “You are sad and you are going to go shopping, to buy some greed, clothes... but we must direct our happiness and free time to another direction, to a life that is not linked to consumerism. They have taught us that we have to live by consuming, because some are interested in it, to enrich themselves, they have also sold it to us on television, and we have fallen into this vicious circle.” They also insist that the appearance is great, that you can’t be “less than others”, that you can’t work

on anything or spend less money than others. San Sebastián and Kerejeta have 18-19 year old classmates in the modules, and it is said that they have not yet suffered economic hardship, that they live quietly, without too much concern for the future. “After all, what model do they receive from us? “They’ve seen that we’ve been learning and studying to be out of work or to work in very bad working conditions, so...” “Young people are not dumb – Zabaleta – and if you give them everything done, they’ll take it, they’ll fit in comfortably, I would do the same. The problem is in the values, because they have taught us that we have everything we want from an early age. Working before was positive and now it’s stupid: you have to make as much money as possible by working as little as possible. Turn on the TV and what are the models? Belen Esteban, Big Brother...”. But then

comes the frustration that these models are not real and that the imperative has not been fulfilled either: young people have been told that they would receive compensation if they did the Master’s, if they were willing to move through learning languages, being flexible... But then they have been told that they do not have a job. Sociologist Xabier Aimedio warns that if the efforts made are not compensated, the frustration of the people can lead to dangerous results: the creation of Nazism in middle classes, attitudes against immigrants and the poor... The interlocutors say that in hospitality, fishing or construction you see a lot of immigrants, but that they are jobs that the natives did not want to take in the past and so it is not up to us to complain now, because they are equal rights for all. However, they should work under local conditions, because trading for less is to their detriment and to everyone. In the words of Amagoia Ruiz, she has heard from numerous cleaning houses that people from outside are willing to work for very little and can not compete with it.

The fact is that more and more people here accept the deplorable conditions offered. The competition is great and Zabaleta says that it is already perceived in the university, in an intense race to be the best. Kerejeta has a better environment in vocational training, and San Sebastián points out that competitiveness or solidarity depends on oneself: Even when he studied engineering, some were more competitive, others helped each other, and it was up to each one to decide what choice to make.

When are the mobilizations?

Protests are on the rise in many countries. Also here in Bayonne last October there was the largest demonstration of all time (19,000 people) against the reform of the retorts. On the other hand, in the Southern Basque Country, hardly any movement has been observed. They say that people still have money, will the protests come when unemployment benefits – taking into account that the Spanish government has withdrawn the subsequent subsidy – are stopped, when the unaffordable housing is generalized...? Maybe we’ll have to get to the extreme, something scandalous will have to happen, to move people, says Kerejeta. They have gone out into the streets in England, France, Italy... and Zabaleta criticizes the fact that we swallow everything in our country: she can understand it among older people for what they may have to lose, but she finds it sad to see young people standing still instead of fighting to guarantee their future. “They educate us for passivity, and the reaction is that, ‘what’s there and that’s it’. We should love ourselves more if we don’t want to be subordinate and servant for life.” However, we do not have

a map, we lack an accurate diagnosis of the situation and the culprits, according to Conjecti, and we do not mobilize because we do not know who the enemy is. He says that the aggression that comes from the economy is mixed with politics, instead of the bankers being the culprits, the damage is the bad decisions of the governments, and there is a risk of resorting to populist and anti-democratic positions. We rejoice when they lower the salaries of the officials, we blame the Chinese... “But to think of each other in their own place is not the solution, it is necessary to think, decide and act on

the global”. In negative situations, however, one cannot lose hope. Whatever his job, Ruiz doesn’t want to forget his final goal and will continue to prepare him to be a teacher. San Sebastián and Kerejeta hope that the module and subsequent practices will bear fruit, and Zabaleta will not be frustrated by the crisis: “You have to accept reality, know what it’s like and be realistic, but don’t settle. With pessimism, nothing is achieved and we must move forward. If you don’t like reality, try to change it.”