Spaniards set to strike over pay cut proposals

SPAIN'S two biggest unions will stage a one-day public sector strike to protest against wage cuts aimed at bringing the budget deficit under control and preventing Spain following Greece's path.

The unions held almost three hours of talks with prime minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero yesterday to discuss his austerity plan, announced on Wednesday under pressure from Spain's EU partners and the United States.

They told Mr Zapatero they "totally disagreed" with his plan to cut public sector wages by an average 5 per cent in 2010 and introduce a freeze in 2011, and to reduce public investment spending by 6 billion (5.09bn).

"This afternoon we will call a meeting … which will lead to a public sector strike," said a spokesman for Comisiones Obreras (CCOO).

The sister Union General de Trabajadores (UGT) unions said they would put forward 2 June as the date.

That would fall on the day before Madrid's Corpus Cristi public holiday, ensuring maximum participation by public servants in Spain's capital and leading to possible disruptions in the travel plans for many Spaniards over the long weekend.

However, a full-scale general strike is not planned for the time being.

"That is the last thing this country needs at a time like this," Ignacio Fernandez Toxo, the general secretary of Comisiones Obreras, said.

Talk of a general strike has threatened Mr Zapatero's government on several occasions, although analysts questioned the extent to which the public would respond to such extreme action.