Balearics bull fights under threat from industrial action

A matador's strike could be the next step in Spain's long line of industrial action plans, jeopardising bull fights on Majorca later this month. In Inca on July 29, some of Spain's finest bull fighters will be performing, including Jesulin de Ubrique and El Cordobes. This and other fights around the Island could be put at risk of cancellation if matadors, breeders and other players in Spain's £3.2 billion bull fighting industry, agree to strike. The industry is up in arms over a new policy which bans an age old practice - cutting up bulls right after they die in the ring, and selling the meat and other body parts to butchers. They want either monetary compensation or measures to allow sales to resume. Talks with the agriculture ministry are scheduled today, and if the industry's demands are not met, an open ended strike will begin on the 25th July. This is according to industry associations after a meeting in Madrid, and it is no coincidence that July and August are the busiest months on the Spanish bullfighting calendar. Spain instituted the meat sale ban because of new European Union health rules under which any cow or bull 30 months or older must be automatically tested for BSE when slaughtered. An adult fighting bull is usually three or older.