Spanish railway workers stage on-day strike

Thousand of railway workers in Spain have gone on a one-day strike to protest the government’s tough austerity measures and cost-cutting program.

The strike was organized by Spain’s main railway unions and is in a protest to government’s plan to privatize the railway sector.

The government of the Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy says it is trying to slash over 65 billion euros in public deficit by introducing the austerity measures.

However, the workers argue that if the privatization plan is implemented, more people will lose their jobs and the wages of those still at work will be significantly reduced.

Europe plunged into financial crisis in early 2008. Insolvency now threatens heavily debt-ridden countries such as Greece, Portugal, Italy, Ireland and Spain.

Spain is to become the fourth eurozone country to receive bailout funds from the European Union in return for imposing the deeply-unpopular austerity measures.

The country’s economy shrank by 0.3 percent in the first quarter of the year as the country fell back into recession for the first time in three years.

The Spanish government expects the economy to contract by 1.7 percent in 2012. However, many analysts have warned that tough austerity measures could worsen the slump.