Spanish views from a small town

Today is International Workers' Day. Or, Labor Day. It is celebrated in most of the world, with some notable exceptions, such as Saudi Arabia. The United States and Canada celebrate it on the first Monday of September, which is odd, because the origins of May Day celebrations were in Chicago, during the Harmarket Affair. Workers were rallying on May 4th, 1886, in support of striking workers who were demanding an eight hour day, and the last speaker was beginning to end his speech on the podium. Until then, everything had been peaceful. But the police had other ideas. They began to call to the speaker to step down, and the crowd to disperse. Some bright soul decided to throw a bomb in the advancing police officers' path. Seven officers were killed that night, and four workers. The crowd, however, fled the scene. If any of the workers present fired on the police, they didn't stick around to make sure their targets were dead. In the end, the police were given the order to stop...

I won't look at my breakfast blueberries the same way again. My daughter worked two weeks at a blueberry plantation to pick up some extra money. She wanted a temporary job where she had to use her hands. She would have preferred picking grapes, but the transportation logistics (again) have made it impossible so far. This job came along, with someone who would drive her every day, so she took it. There, she spent some time in the blueberry rows, but most of her time was spent in the selection shed. She came away with several things. That she would prefer working in the sun, even in the heat; that she doesn't want to select another blueberry; and the friendships she made.  There were people there from Spain, Morocco, Romania, and Senegal, at the least. Seven languages or more were spoken or known by the different people. Habits, customs, religions, were all different, so were work habits. There were different types of people, from religious Muslims who sometimes listened to...

Today is May 1st, International Worker's Day. Its origins go back to the Chicago of 1886, with a strike asking for an eight-hour workday at a time when it was normal to work twelve to fourteen hours. The Haymarket Riot was a turning point in international labor movements. But it would take many more years before workers could enjoy "eight hours of work, eight hours of leisure, and eights hours of rest." And now it seems we will need to fight to regain some of those rights. While the law in Spain states that anything over eight hours daily work is overtime and should be paid so, it is well-known that many workers in smaller companies sometimes work ten hours a day and are paid eight hours. If you don't like it, find something else. If you can. The recent reforms in labor law has made it easier to fire people who have a contract. Severance pay has been lowered. Temporary contracts are more common now, and salaries are lower than before the crisis. There are also ...