Victory for Airbus 8 against fascist law

Eight Spanish workers have been acquitted of criminal charges of organising a strike in 2010. Known as the Airbus 8, they were indicted under a fascist labour law dating back to the Franco regime and which has not been used since 1972. The British government’s current Trade Union Bill aims to introduce something similar here.

This is a major success for the Spanish trade union movement and their campaign “Huelga no es delito” (To strike is not a crime). In September 2010 Spanish unions held a general strike against austerity measures and restrictions on union organisation. It was supported by 10 million workers.

Events outside the Airbus factory in Getafe, including heavy policing, led to charges of violence and “attacking the right to work”, which the eight trade unionists denied. They faced sentences of up to 8 years and 3 months under Article 315.3 of the Franco legislation which criminalised the right to strike.

Despite this victory this infamous law remains on the books. The political campaign to remove it continues. In Britain the Trade Union Bill, soon to be law, echoes many of the aspects of the “Spanish model” of anti-trade union legislation, as reported in the March/April 2016 edition of Workers.