Activists sentenced to prison in Spain for campaign against workplace, equating public economic pressure with criminal coercion

~ Cristina Sykes ~

Workers’ groups yesterday (28 Sep) showed their solidarity with the six union activists from Gijon, Spain, who face prison for their campaign against La Suiza pastry shop. Unions warn of a massive blow to trade union freedom in Spain and beyond, if the rulings against these activists become the legal standard.

In addition to a demonstration of thousands in Gijon supported by eleven trade unions, rallies were held at the Spanish embassy in Paris, the Instituto Cervantes in Berlin, and the La Pasionaria statue in Glasgow, among other locations, in response to a call from the International Confederation of Labour (ICL).

The case began in 2017, when an employee of the shop in Gijón (Xixón, Asturias) contacted the local branch of the CNT union, saying her boss was not paying her overtime or paid holidays, with suspicions of harassment in the background. After the boss turned down an offer of talks, the CNT undertook a campaign of leaflets and posters by pastry shop, located on a large avenue in the city. The police were always present and had nothing to complain about.

The boss responded with legal action, including alleged “coercion” in a complaint that was over 11,000 pages long. A judge at the regional court, known to be very anti-worker and anti-union, accepted the boss’s allegations. In 2021 the unionists were convicted and sentenced to 3.5 years in prison each without parole and compensation of 125,428 Euro.

The CNT appealed, but the Spanish Supreme Court confirmed the previous verdict last June. The remaining legal remedies are negligible: going to the European Court of Justice or a legal attempt to have the prison sentence suspended.

According to a CNT legal analysis, the attempt to equate public and economic pressure with criminal “coercion” amounts to criminalising union actions the moment they become effective. “Trade union freedom cannot be limited to mere symbolic but ultimately inconsequential acts…the instruments that the constitution and the law provide to the union to defend workers necessarily entail causing harm to the employer”, said the document.

In Dresden, FAU activists held an information stand at a local charity run. In Hamburg’s Arrivatipark, activists held a rally and leafleted passers-by to the songs of Galician reggae band Fatwaves Syndicate.

Accortding to the FAU, in Germany workers are also experiencing “a repeated questioning of union rights, even to the point of the most vile agitation…In the next few years, Germany will face a serious economic crisis, not to mention a shift to the right. Our rights fundamentally depend on us defending them and our unions, including internationally”.

In the UK, minimum service laws instated under the Tories similarly threaten workers’ ability to strike, with no indications of their repeal by the Labour government. [Edit: the government announced it would repeal the laws].