THOUSANDS took to the streets of Barcelona on International Workers’ Day to demand a 37.5 hour working week ahead of this month’s pivotal Catalan elections.
An estimated 10,000 people marched through the streets of Spain’s second largest city on May 1, a national bank holiday, to call for a shorter workday, full employment, and improved wages.
The demonstration, organised by the trade unions UGT and CCOO, was attended by a host of important political figures including the Catalan president and pro-independence Esquerra party figurehead, Pere Aragones, the leader of the PSC Socialist party, Salvador Illa, and left-wing Comuns MP Jessica Albiach, all of whom are candidates for the Catalan regional elections taking place on May 12.
Protestors marched under the slogan: “For full employment, shorter working hours and better wages”.
Among the demands set out by protestors was a 37.5 hour work week, with a gradual reduction thereon to even fewer hours.
Unions also took the opportunity to demand increased wages as rising inflation squeezes people’s pay packets and to call for improved property regulations in Barcelona with the city in the midst of a housing crisis.
Organisers for the event also called for an end to ‘war politics’ in the context of bloody conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza.
Elsewhere in Catalunya, there were similar protests in Lleida, Girona and Tarragona.