- MADRID: Nearly 100 scrap metal collectors have marched in Madrid to protest a new law they say will drive them out of their business at the bottom of the Spanish employment chain.
Protester Angel Lobato said legislation passed last month forces people to obtain a license as haulers of non-hazardous waste and pay €300 ($424) a month into the social security system as self-employed workers.
Chants heard at the march included “we want junk, not taxes.”
Lobato said that in metropolitan Madrid alone some 3,000 people eke out a living by roaming the streets and calling out offering to take away things like old domestic appliances that they then sell for eventual recycling. Most are Gypsies or immigrants.
Spain’s jobless rate is nearly 21 percent.
