Spanish workers stage first general strike in 14 years

Spanish workers staged the country’s first general strike in 14 years on Wednesday, France 24 reported, demanding action on housing costs and living expenses before the Nov. 29 election.

France 24 said Spain’s average rent has almost doubled over 10 years, making the walkout a test of whether Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez can return the campaign to housing before the vote.

The UGT and CCOO unions, Spain’s two main labour groups, said in a social-media statement that early participation was broad, with “significant work stoppages in strategic sectors.” They reported 90% stoppages in the automotive and port sectors, 85% in the meat industry, 82% in waste collection and 75% in energy.

France 24 reported that the strike was expected to slow public transport and close or reduce activity at businesses, factories and shops across the eurozone’s fourth-largest economy. Minor incidents were reported in the first hours, including roadblocks in Barcelona and scuffles between picketers and police near Madrid’s main wholesale market.

“The Socialists need for the strike to be a success and for there not to be any violence so that the election campaign can swing back to being about housing, back in the framework of Maricarmen,” Oriol Bartomeus, a professor of political science at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, told The Associated Press.

Maricarmen, an 87-year-old woman evicted from her Madrid home last month, became a focal point for anger over rents and homeownership after her case was televised and she later died. Housing activists used the outcry to call for a strike, later backed by UGT and CCOO.

The activists are seeking measures including the removal of tourist apartments, tighter action against real-estate speculation and automatic lease renewals for renters. The unions are pressing for more state intervention in housing and a new minimum-wage agreement through talks with the business owners’ association. The strike’s slogan is “Salaries.

Housing. Prices.”

Sánchez called the election on Oct. 5 after right-wing parties in Parliament refused to ratify emergency housing decrees, arguing they would drive properties out of the rental market. His campaign was then hit by a high-speed train collision that killed 69 people, Spain’s second deadly rail disaster of the year.

Sánchez posted a video on social media this week praising earlier social policies, including the 40-hour work week and national health insurance, as gains from the workers’ movement and the right to strike. “It wasn’t easy, but they changed Spain,” Sánchez said, while warning that right-wing parties would bring austerity and underfunded social services.

Veronica Martinez, spokesperson for Sumar, the junior member of the government, separately said “the Left needs the workers of this country to mobilise. Rights are first won on the streets and then later in the institution.”

The conservative Popular Party and the far-right Vox oppose housing-market intervention beyond incentives for new construction. They have also accused the unions of trying to aid Sánchez before the election. “This strike is not a general strike; it is an electoral strike,” Popular Party spokesperson Miguel Tellado said Tuesday.

“It is not against the government in power, but rather against the government to be.”

France 24 reported that right-wing parties have joined forces to govern in some Spanish regions and that months of polling showed voters leaning toward the Right. Bartomeus said the right-wing parties could benefit if the strike descends into street violence.

The government plans on Nov. 12 to ask a reduced interim Parliament to ratify two housing decrees after the full lower chamber rejected them last month. Spain holds the snap election called by Sánchez on Oct. 5 on Nov. 29, with the housing dispute and the strike now central to the campaign.