Word: euskalduna
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...Barcelona announced a "suspension of payments," a legal state just this side of actual bankruptcy that defers debt payments and allows a company to lay off help (otherwise forbidden by law). In a land where newspapers print no unpleasant news, word spread that the big (3,000 employees) Euskalduna shipyard and the Basconia steel mill in Bilbao were also about to lay off their work forces, and so was Madrid's leading steel company...
Jenaro Riestra. the civil governor of the Spanish port of Bilbao, was summoned to Madrid last week, there got orders to settle the strike that had cut back production at the Euskalduna works, one of his city's biggest steel plants (TIME, Dec.14). Though newspapers printed no word of the strike and mail from Bilbao was interrupted, the news of Bilbao's woe was spreading by word of mouth. Madrid wanted a settlement, quickly and in silence, before other Spanish workers decided to join...
...Bilbao. Governor Riestra got a welcome assist from the unpredictable Spanish climate. Heavy rains broke the months-old drought; hydroelectric stations started humming. Workers recently laid off went back to their jobs-but not at Euskalduna. The steel plant's blustering, belligerent manager, Elisardo Bilbao, an employer misplaced from the 19th century, posted a notice in the Plaza de la Misericordia. It said: all those who struck are fired...
Then came new work cuts. The men sent a deputation to talk things over with Elisardo Bilbao, the tough, despotic manager of the Euskalduna steel plant. Don Elisardo drove them off with this fierce warning: "Men, you make one move and I'll have you all in jail. Now go and complain to your priests...
Next morning 5,000 Euskalduna workers, defying Spain's drastic laws against industrial strikes, stood at their machines, silent and unbudging. Escorted by armed guards, Don Elisardo strode among the workers, cursing and threatening. Silently they stared back at him, and would not work. Three truckloads of guardsmen drew up and drove the workmen from the plant. Sixteen of them were bundled into a Black Maria...
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