'eeg ‘A miners’ strike which began on Saturday, July 20th, had by the
2, spread to five mines and there is o partial stoppage at a sixth. Reports from Madrid said that the number of minors involved had incroasod from 3,000 on the Saturday to 4,000 on the Monday, The miners! main demand is for a retroactive incersase in the 10-day bors given to thom to mark July 18th, the 27th annivorsary of the start of the Spanish Civil War.
Speaking on July 10th, Jose Solis Ruiz, minister and secrotarygeneral of tho fascist Falange party and head of the state-run trade unions, admitted that abstentions in the state-run trade union elections had reached considerable proportions in certain areas. The boycott was effective in the Asturias region, Solis admitted that in ono coal mine, 80% of the workers abstained, while in an iron plant only 50% of the staff took part in the elections, According to another source, in the 5.4, Mieres factory at Mieres in Oviedo province, only 2% of the 5,000 workers employed took part in the elections,