Royal Palace workers to stage first ever strike in Spain

Workers at Spain’s royal palaces will stage their first strike ever to protest austerity cutbacks.

The union said government measures have slashed wages by 15 per cent and extended working weeks. 

The strikes will take place during the Easter holidays on Thursday March 28 and  Friday March 29, and will include some 500 national heritage staff, gardeners, palace museum staff and even the palace waiters.

Sites affected will be the Zarzuela Palace in Madrid, the King’s official residence, and the popular tourist sites of San Lorenzo del Escorial monastery and the mausoleum where General Franco is buried in the Valley of the Fallen.

The sites could lose some 100,000 visitors because of strike.