Subway strike leads to transport chaos in Madrid (Roundup)

Jun 29, 2010, 13:52 GMT

Madrid - A strike by employees of the Madrid underground led to traffic chaos in the Spanish capital on Tuesday.

Traffic in the city centre increased by 20 per cent in the rush hour, officials said. Long queues formed at bus stops, and it was difficult to get a taxi, despite train and bus companies stepping up their services.

All underground trains stopped circulation, because striking employees refused to provide minimum services, which they had done when the three-day strike began on Monday.

Officials said pickets had paralysed the underground, and threatened the striking employees with sanctions.

The closure of the underground, which affected nearly 2 million commuters, would continue on Wednesday, unions announced.

About 7,500 employees of the underground had been called to follow the strike protesting wage cuts.

The Spanish government has slashed public sector salaries by an average of 5 per cent as part of its attempts to cut the country's public deficit of 11.2 per cent. The Madrid regional authorities announced similar wage cuts.

A general strike meanwhile led to clashes between police and demonstrators in the northern Basque region, where at least one police officer and one protester were injured.

Demonstrators burned containers and sabotaged a railway line, interrupting traffic in several places. Several people were detained.

The 24-hour strike in the Basque region and neighbouring Navarre was protesting a government reform favouring work contracts with a lower severance pay.

Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's Socialist government has faced growing union protests since it began adopting reforms aimed at restoring Spain's financial credibility in international markets.