The two major labor unions in Spain are seriously considering another general strike in 2013, which would be the third since Rajoy took power, in order to protest against the government's reform agenda. This time their argument to mobilize the masses is that Spain will reach six million unemployed workers in Q1 2013.
Spain has never seen this level of unemployment. Complaints lodged by the UGT and CCOO, Spain's two biggest labor unions, are supported by the grisly W3 2012 national employment survey (EPA) results showing that 5,778,100 people are jobless and falls in social security contributions in October, November and December. For three straight months the number of workers contributing to the system fell by 367,122. Because the spread between jobless claims and social security contributions is usually small, the labor unions predict that Spain will see six million total jobless workers before April.
Even considering the grave data, the unions don't have a solid argument to take to the streets again, especially considering that only 21.4% of Spaniards supported 14N according to the Center of Investigation (CIS following the Spanish abbreviation). The second general strike against Rajoy was not just an utter failure but was also ineffective in changing the government's strategy, which was the main objective of the strike. The next proposed strike is a bad idea, because the economy continues to show signs of weakness and the increased economic costs of a strike would only worsen the situation. If UGT and CCOO continue with their confrontational strategy, another failure will ensue and Spain's image will suffer once again at a time when the country needs stability in order to move forward.
