The president of the Confederación Española de Organizaciones Empresariales (CEOE), Antonio Garamendi, has assessed the call by PP leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo to reconsider the general strike of November 11 after the railway accident recorded last week “very positively”.
Garamendi has insisted that he has not understood “at any time” this strike proposed “against the opposition” and in which, as he has criticized, “it is said that companies are to blame for everything”.
In statements to the media during the XVI Encuentro Empresarial Iberoamericano (EEIB), the head of the employers’ association has questioned whether, after the “tragedy” of the railway incident, this is the moment “to start shouting” or rather “for Spaniards to think about what they want” with a view to the upcoming general elections on November 29.
The business leader has emphasized that he interprets this strike as part of “a campaign” and has described it as an “electoral strike”. “I think we are not in that moment; I think we are in a moment to assess, to work and, precisely, not to inflame tensions,” he said, adding that “blaming the opposition and employers makes no sense”.
Therefore, he has called for focusing on “working” and on fixing “the trains, the infrastructure and our country,” doing it “seriously”, and he has reiterated that from the business organization they are not going to “play at electoral issues”.
Feijóo sees the strike as “a serious mistake”
This Tuesday, Feijóo asked the unions to “reconsider” the general strike “against the opposition” because, in his view, if before it was “incomprehensible”, after the accident in Urda (Toledo) it is “a serious mistake”.
In his appearance on Los Desayunos Informativos of Europa Press, Feijóo has stressed that he is not questioning the constitutional right to strike, but the timing of the call. He has recalled that Spain has just suffered a railway tragedy and that “deep weaknesses of the system” have been revealed, the political responsibility for which corresponds exclusively to the Government.
“And that is why I want to address the unions directly. Reconsider that strike called against the opposition, as the campaign director of the Partido Socialista has confirmed. Before it was incomprehensible. 69 dead later is a serious mistake,” he emphasized.
Feijóo has stated that the unions did not call a strike "in eight years of Government" of Pedro Sánchez and has demanded that they do not call one now "three weeks before being called to the ballot boxes." "Do not do it or you will link your image to Pedro Sánchez forever," he has ruled.