Friday 10 August 2012

'Eating cake' no longer an option in Andalucia?


                                                                                                  pic: Libcom.org
Unemployed take food from Mercadona and Carrefour.
Earlier this week, unemployed fieldworkers and other members of the Spanish union SAT went to two supermarkets, one in Ecija (Sevilla) and one in Arcos de la Frontera (Cadiz) and loaded up trolleys with basic necessities including milk, sugar, chickpeas, pasta and rice, which have been given to charities to distribute.

With unemployment in the area at 40%, compared with a national average of 24%, the union plans further actions in a protest against austerity cut-backs.

Isolated incident?
Whilst this development might appear to be an isolated incident in a region suffering extreme hardship, it is symptomatic of the pressure building up in many countries as a result of attempts to balance economic disparities.

There are obviously serious social and political issues involved that need to be covered elsewhere.
Equally, we do not believe it is in our remit to advise retailers or suppliers ref their policies on charitable donations. 

Ignoring the symptoms?
However, if either party believes that the business of selling and buying can continue ‘as normal’, i.e. without factoring these pressures and actions into business strategies, their business models will become increasingly unrealistic in terms of predictable output, and will gradually become unsustainable.

Action 
We believe that these unprecedented circumstances require a fundamental review to determine what business the company is really in, where it is realistically headed, at what rate, at what cost, at what level of risk, with what minimum output in a real world, where people are prepared to break the law in order to survive.

Awaiting a return to 'normal' is no longer an option…

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