Protests Across Spain Over BBVA Job Cuts

Protests Across Spain Over BBVA Job Cuts

BBVA Head Office in Madrid. Luis García, CC BY-SA 3.0 ES , via Wikimedia Commons

BBVA Employees took to the streets around Spain yesterday, May 10, in protest over job cuts.

BBVA Employees took to the streets around Spain yesterday, May 10, in protest over job cuts, Majorca Daily Bulletin reports. Hundreds took part in the protest against the country’s second-biggest bank cutting around 16 per cent of its staff. Last month, BBVA announced its plans to cut 3,000 jobs and also close nearly a quarter of its branches as customers move towards online banking.

Protests in Barcelona, Madrid and some smaller cities as far away as Gran Canaria and Mallorca are following calls from the government to reduce top bankers’ wages as the sector is planning lay-offs in jobs.

The Comisiones Obreras union, the entity that called for the protest on Monday, said that 6,000 people participated.

Ana Maria Rodriguez, a protester in central Madrid, has been employed with BBVA for five years and marched with her three-year-old daughter in a pram because she could not afford a babysitter.

Anna said: “We came to defend our jobs because behind every number there is a family,”

“We are not just numbers, we are people, and all of us have come to fight for what we are, for our work.”

Caixabank, Spain’s largest domestic bank following their purchase of Bankia, last month announced plans to cut around 8,000 jobs in one of the biggest staff reductions in the country’s history.

Five Spanish lenders have announced nearly 18,000 job cuts since the end of October last year, and there are more to be expected.

Spain has one of the largest banking networks in the world, despite the financial crises in 2008, with almost 50 branches per 100,000 adults. However, there has been a fall of nearly 35 per cent in the number of bank employees when compared to December 2019, according to the Bank of Spain.

Written by

Laura Kemp

Originally from UK, Laura is based in Axarquia and is a writer for the Euro Weekly News covering news and features. Got a news story you want to share? Then get in touch at editorial@euroweeklynews.com.

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