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Date Published: 16/11/2021
ARCHIVED - Throwing rocks from the picket lines: Cadiz metal workers strike turns violent
Clashes between police and protestors leave several officers injured and one protestor arrested
Striking metal workers on the picket lines in the province of Cádiz clashed with police today, resulting in several people being injured.
Metal workers in the Andalusian city had already staged a peaceful strike last Tuesday and Wednesday to push for higher wages, and today have started an indefinite strike, with the participation of some 22,000 workers from the naval, aeronautical and automotive industries, which led to violent confrontations with the police.
[Metal-Cádiz]
— CGT (@CGT) November 16, 2021
Primera jornada de #HuelgaIndefinida de los trabajadores del metal en la Bahía de Cádiz por un convenio justo.
🎥Jonathan Martínez (@jonathanmartinz). pic.twitter.com/PkdjTmNnvG
Violence in Cádiz city
At around 8am this morning, Tuesday November 16, a group of demonstrators on the picket line blocking access to the shipyard in Cádiz city began to throw stones at the police vehicles guarding the area.
This picket cut off traffic early in the morning on the Carretera Industrial with a barricade, forcing traffic to be diverted. Large squadrons of police forces were deployed to manage the protesting crowds, mostly without altercations.
However, the situation at the gates of the Cádiz shipyard intensified when around fifty people started throwing stones at police vans, prompting police in riot gear to charge the picket line. In response, the demonstrators then stormed the shipyard’s guardhouse, damaging the windows in the process, in order to barricade themselves inside.
Two police officers were reported to be have suffered light injuries in the scuffle. No information has yet been released to indicate any protestors were arrested or injured.
Altercations in other industrial ports in Cádiz province
Meanwhile, away from Cádiz capital, there were more confrontations in the Campo de Gibraltar. The subcontractors of the large petrochemical industries in La Línea, Algeciras and Los Barrios stopped work and took to the picket lines this morning. After peaceful demonstrations turned sour, just as in Cádiz city, one of the striking workers was detained and two officers from the Guardia Civil were injured in the town San Roque.
A Guardia Civil vehicle also collided with a lamppost while they were cutting access to a road, but initially it seems not due to any reason related to the demonstrators.
Pickets were erected at the entrance to the Puerto Real shipyard, where a large bonfire was lit to prevent access to the turnstiles, while the protest was smaller at Airbus, where a second assembly took place to discuss the terms of a pre-agreement between the parties.
Why are metal workers on strike?
The indefinite stoppage in the metal working sector is due to a pay dispute between the Federation of Metalworkers of Cadiz (FEMCA) and the workers’ unions. The former made a last proposal on Friday November 1, offering a 0.5% wage increase in 2021, 1.5% in 2022 and 1.5% in 2023.
However, the Cádiz unions rejected the proposal and are asking for a rise in accordance with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for 2021, a rise of 2.5% plus CPI for 2022 and a rise of 3% plus CPI for 2023.
Employers do not see the union proposal as viable, since rising levels of inflation and the increase in electricity and fuel prices have made production more expensive, which makes such a wage increase “unaffordable”. The unions, for their part, insist that they cannot lose any more purchasing power.
Image 1: LAB
Images 2 and 3: AIT
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