Mainstream Spanish newspapers have criticised a decision by unions to call a public sector strike and threaten further action, saying the move could create unrest and hamper a crucial labour reform deal.
A jobs deal is seen as key to battling the worst recession in 50 years and convincing markets that Spain can avoid Greek-style economic intervention.
‘The economic recovery and job creation will become impossible tasks if along with cuts in public investment there is a climate of social unrest,’ leading left-wing newspaper El Pais said in an editorial comment.
The newspaper called for unions to act more responsibly regarding the threat of a general strike, if only because such a move could fail to win public support.
The unions' decision to call a public sector strike in protest at an austerity plan could encourage the government to cave in to their demands for higher selective taxes, such as inheritance tax, something right-wing editorials opposed.
New tax hikes would placate the Socialist government's left-wing base and silence criticism that the €15bn austerity plan had mainly targeted social spending, Ignacio Camacho, columnist in conservative daily ABC said.
‘This will end up in a rise in taxes ... because the austerity plan is not sufficient to plug the deficit ... but above all because a Prime Minister (Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero) so concerned with his image will not portray himself solely as someone who puts his hand in the wallet of the poor,’ said Ignacio Camacho, a columnist in conservative daily ABC.
In an editorial titled ‘Raising taxes will only make it worse’, the right-leaning newspaper El Mundo argued that the rich were always able to find ways of avoiding more tax and that it was those people already paying high taxes who would once again foot the bill.
It is essential that labour reform happens, it said.
‘Whether or not there is an agreement with the unions, it is vital that the government produces this reform, which will encourage the creation of jobs when we most need it.’
