President Armengol prior to the downpour.

President Armengol prior to the downpour. | Joan Torres

Majorca Daily Bulletin reporterPalma01/05/2018 00:00
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A storm and torrential rain in Palma yesterday led to the May Day march being halted and then called off. Organised by the CCOO, UGT and STEI-i unions and with the support of left-wing political parties plus Ciudadanos, the Labour Day march had attracted around a thousand people who had gathered in the Plaça Espanya. At around one o'clock, as the march was making for the Plaça Joan Carles I at the top of the Born, the heavens opened. As well as the rest of the march, the party in Parc de la Mar, which had been scheduled to follow it, was cancelled.

The march had the slogan "time to win". The demands were equality, improved employment, improved salaries and improved pensions. The general secretary of the UGT, Alejandro Texias, said that the time had come to recover all that had been lost over the past few years. "We have to get back all that the Spanish government has taken away." He explained that labour reform has led to a decrease in salaries and greater job insecurity.

The general secretary of the CCOO, José Luis García, issued a warning to businesses. "Either redistribute wealth or there will be social conflict in the Balearics."

Among the politicians was President Armengol, taking part in the May Day march for the first time. Female workers had been placed at the head of the march, and she congratulated the organisers on the "magnificent gesture". There are, the president noted, "many inequalities between men and women in terms of salary and treatment at work". "Legal equality exists in part, but real equality does not."

Employment minister Iago Negueruela said that the Madrid government is "permanently deaf" to calls for labour reform to be scrapped. There has to be legislation aimed at redistributing wealth to workers.

Other politicians included the mayor of Palma, Antoni Noguera; one of the Council of Majorca's vice-presidents, Jesús Jurado; and the spokesperson for Ciudadanos at Palma town hall, Josep Lluís Bauzá. Their participation was truncated, however, as was that of all the marchers. The first day of the main tourism season, and there was a downpour.