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NEWS & LETTERS, Janurary-February 2010
Spain backs outlaws
Workers at a protest of Air Comet Airlines in Madrid on Dec. 22 displayed a sign that said, "Families in ruin, [by] Incompetent Corporations." (See El Pais, Dec. 22.) Due to nearly 20% unemployment in Spain, the 700 employees agreed to work without pay--relying on the personal guarantee of Gerardo Diaz Ferran and Gonzalo Pascual, owners of Air Comet. They also own Marsan, a large Spanish travel agency. The workers did not get seven paychecks. Unions representing the workers demanded that the government find them new positions.
On Dec. 30, Air Comet was ordered shut down. A British judge ruled in favor of a German bank, NordBank, which claimed its 17 million euros ($24 million) debt. This stranded 70,000 travelers, some of whom went on hunger strike in Barajas airport in Madrid.
The workers criticized Jose Blanco, the commerce minister, for "not doing anything to prevent the closing of Air Comet and instead protecting Diaz Ferran." The government looked the other way when the owners did not pay its 16 million euros ($23 million) social security fees for the workers. And it did not bother at all to protect the workers.
For the workers it seemed like a conspiracy, to close an airline operation during high season activity. They had thought that the high season traffic would generate enough income so they would get paid. The workers need a new social structure where they would be in control of production for their own benefit.
--Manel
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