ELA and LAB believe that the working class and the union force have emerged "strengthened and closer to achieving their goal"

The leaders of the convening unions ELA and LAB have expressed their satisfaction the day after the General Strike called in Hego Euskal Herria on March 17.

ELA's Secretary General, Mitxel Lakuntza, has congratulated the thousands of people, both ELA and other trade unions and other citizens, who yesterday made possible " a demonstration of collective commitmentto those who are having the worst time in the world of work. "

In an interview on Radio Euskadi on Wednesday morning, he stressed that "this strike has been a success for the working class, it has been important, it has been visible and the mobilizations have been enormous." In his words, "the working class has made its wish clear and has made a firm claim to sovereignty, in favour of the minimum wage being decided here. "

He has stressed that "the ultimate goal of the fight, of course, is to achieve this SMI" and has been convinced that in the future "the streets will be filled again to celebrate it". He believes that after this strike Basque society is "closer" to achieving this goal than yesterday. 

Lakuntza says that in view of the mobilisation 'no one will be able to continue to act as an ostrich', so it calls on the Basque Government, and in particular the PNV, to 'clarify its contradiction, on the one hand it says it is in favour of the SMI, but also, when we have brought the People's Legislative Initiative to Parliament, it has been opposed to discussing it itself'.

He also believes that "even employers will not be able to continue to turn their backs for a long time, as yesterday's strike will increase the need for dialogue and agreement." 

In the same vein,LAB GeneralCoordinator  Garbiñe Aranburu has also spoken in the microphones of Euskadi Irratia. "We have emergedstronger from yesterday's general strike, the workers have understood that there are reasons for it. "She has also stressed that the General Strike had" an important class solidarity "and she believes that this message has been well understood.

Asked about the open avenues for obtaining the SMI, he said that what is being demanded in both Parliament and Madrid is the same, "to amend Article 27 of the Workers' State in order to be able to set a minimum wage of its own", to which he criticized the ambivalent attitude of the PNV, "because the refusal to debate in Parliament, as well as being undemocratic, does not correspond to the claim of a minimum wage."

LAB's GeneralCoordinator, Igor Arroyo, also spoke on Radio Euskadi and, with yesterday's strike, stressed that "a message of hope has been sent out "because" in the harsh international context, in the face of imperialist intervention and the 'strongest law', it has been shown that a very large part of Basque society and the majority of the working class promote a different economic and social model that puts people's lives at the centre and not the interests of the minority. "

Asked about the incidents that the pickets caused yesterday, he stressed that there were "anecdotal" that since 2008, when he has responsibilities in the union, "he has never seen" strikes that have been so few, and stressed that, "in general, the General Strike has been an exercise in solidarity and generosity. " 

All three have also stressed that they will continue to push for the bill in the Spanish Congress and have expressed their intention to support it, EH Bildu, ERC and BNG, and have also expressed their desire to take steps forward in the next few days in their meetings with the Navarre employers.