The Union Action Group (UAG) born in February is a platform to defend Spanish immigrants’ rights and put them in touch with German unions. Appeared in the wake of the Indignant movement and based on voluntary activism, the initiative was at first a mere mutual aid system so that the most hardened Spanish youngsters in Berlin could give tips and advice to those who had just arrived. It quickly took a more union-oriented turn to face the problems the community is facing.
“We’re not leaving, they’re throwing us out. And when we’re here, they exploit us,” reads the UAG’s banners and flyers. Spanish youngsters in Berlin are rebelling. They’re 25 or 30 and define themselves as “economically exiled.” Leaving a country where more than 50 percent of youngsters are unemployed, when they arrived in Germany, they had no choice but to accept a job. Later, they sometimes found that their wages were slightly lower than local workers’ pay. The UAG was born from their...
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