The Spanish Catholic worker movement, regrouped under the acronyms HOAC and JOC, has given its support to the general strike called for 20 June to protest against the reform of the labour market being implemented by the government of José Maria Aznar. The reform provides, inter alia, for the reduction of unemployment benefits, measures to make it easier for companies to sack workers, and the privatization of public sector services. The announcement of their support was given by HOAC and JOC themselves in a press release. In their communiqué they declare: “The strike is totally justified since it is in the defence of the worker and of the dignity of the person”. In fact, maintain the two organizations, “the reform is based on a conception of the economy that reduces the worker to a condition of semi-slavery, placed at the service of a productive system far removed from its principal function: the common good of society”. According to the Catholic associations, “capital prevails over labour in the reform” with the aim of “eliminating all the rights of workers because they are considered by the employers an obstacle to productivity and competitiveness”.
