Courtesy of Mish.
As Spain attempts austerity by cutting back payments to regions, those regions run out of funds to pay bills.
For an interesting case-in-point, please consider (via Google translate from El Economista) Municipalities Owed €2,000 Million, Companies Refuse Collection and Cleaning
Defaults on local councils put back on the ropes to urban sanitation companies. No respite worth. If the final plan provider payment partially interrupted the problem, the situation again becomes serious. “Since the beginning of the year delinquencies has skyrocketed. In just eight months to August, the accumulated debt of the sessions with cleaning companies was around 1,680 million.
This rise is worrisome for a sector in Spain employs over 120,000 people, “said the president of Aselip (Association of Public Cleaning), Francisco Jardón.
The result is that today the municipalities pending bills with these companies together account for nearly 2,000 million euros. As also in the pharmaceutical sector, the debt problem is that, far from disappearing, is regenerated by now.
“When the government launched the provider payment plan in April the problem was corrected by 90 percent. Then consistories debt with sanitation companies was nearly 3,000 million euros and around 300 million were left payable “adds Jardón. Why? “For the Royal Decree which implemented that plan did not, do not know why, consortia or associations, which also have hired urban sanitation”.
Strike in Jerez
Urbaser stars in these days one of the main problems related to the debts. The ERE submitted by the company, which includes 125 layoffs and pay cuts, has meant that employees call for a strike in garbage collection that has lasted 19 days.
According to the City, more than 3,000 tons of garbage piled in the streets of the city of Cadiz, which last night had its second day of riots and burning container. Sources Provincial Fire Consortium reported traffic costs due to the garbage thrown by neighbors to the street as a barricade, and clashes with the police and firefighters who came to put out the flames.
That is quite a choppy translation but I believe you get the gist.
Green Shoot of the Day
While reflecting on garbage, also consider via Google translate The green shoot of the day. Cement consumption falls by 34% through October.
Cement consumption fell by 33.8% in the first ten months of the year, reaching 11.74 million tons, thus scoring one of the biggest percentage declines since the beginning of the crisis.
The association warns that if this fall in consumption is not stopped “using government” not ruled out further adjustments in business capacity of a sector that has already lost one third (33%) of their jobs since the onset of the crisis.
…
