Spain came close to a standstill on Wednesday, November 11, as workers walked out in the country’s first 24-hour general strike in 14 years. Ports, car plants, rubbish collection and city transport were hit, and hundreds of thousands of people marched through Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao and other cities. The main reason was simple and widely shared: housing has become too expensive for ordinary wages.
Who called the strike and why
The strike was called by Spain’s two biggest union federations, CCOO and UGT, and backed by the smaller CGT and CNT. Tenant groups and housing movements joined in. Their slogan was “Wages, housing and prices.”
Rents in Spain have risen by around 80% over the past decade, while pay has not kept up. Young people have been hit hardest. In big cities, many people in their late twenties and thirties still live with their parents or share flats because a one-bedroom apartment takes most of a monthly salary.
Unions want rent controls, more protected public housing, action against speculation and evictions, and higher wages. They also raised pensions and public services.
How big was it?
As always with strikes, the numbers depend on who you ask.
- Madrid: The Tenants’ Union said more than 500,000 people marched. The central government’s office in the city counted 120,000.
- Barcelona: Organisers claimed 400,000. City police put the figure at 55,000.
- Bilbao: Municipal police counted about 50,000.
Some harder data points to a real impact. Industrial electricity demand fell by 25.6% during the day. Unions reported around 90% participation in ports such as Valencia and Algeciras and in the car industry, with full stoppages at Volkswagen’s plant in Navarre and at Seat. They put participation at 85% in the meat industry and 82% in waste collection. Madrid’s metro, running a minimum service, carried 21% fewer passengers at 7 am than usual.
Clashes and arrests
The day was mostly peaceful, but not entirely. Riot police charged groups of masked protesters in Madrid and Barcelona who threw fireworks and flares at officers. More than 70 people were arrested across the country and police logged around 1,500 incidents.
In Madrid, unions said at least eight people were injured when police moved against a picket outside the city’s bus depots. UGT leader Pepe Álvarez accused police of blocking a constitutional right at a picket in Mercamadrid, the city’s wholesale market.
An election in the background
The timing matters. Spain votes in a snap general election on November 29, and the official campaign begins on November 13. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez called the election after parliament defeated his housing affordability bill. Two later housing decrees were also voted down in Congress by the PP, Vox and Junts.
Unions called the strike a success. Employers’ groups said it failed. Álvarez said whoever forms the next government “will have to listen to the people.” Opposition leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo of the Partido Popular warned that the unions may have made a “historic mistake.”
The Tenants’ Union did not spare anyone either. Its spokesperson Valeria Racu criticised every level of government, including the current one, calling its housing policy a failure.
What it means
Housing costs are a problem across much of Europe, from Lisbon to Dublin to Amsterdam. Spain is now the clearest example of that frustration turning into mass protest just before a national vote. With the campaign starting this week, every major party will be pushed to say exactly how it plans to bring rents down.
For travellers, transport in Spain should be back to normal now, though separate rail strikes were announced around the general strike, so it is worth checking with Renfe before booking train journeys this week.
Reporting based on Euronews, CNN and Political.org.
Featured image: FDV, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
