MADRID (The Thursday Times) — Millions of people across Spain joined the country’s first general strike in 14 years on Wednesday, a 24-hour stoppage over soaring housing costs held little more than two weeks before a general election.
The strike, called by the main unions and backed by tenants’ associations, disrupted transport and public services, and traffic was halted on several main roads in Madrid and Catalonia. Unions reported 90 per cent participation in the automotive and port sectors and 82 per cent in waste collection, but said turnout was uneven, with the strongest support in coastal regions such as Catalonia and Andalusia, where housing costs have climbed fastest. Many schools and universities were closed or ran at minimal capacity.
The head of the UGT union, Pepe Álvarez, called the strike a success with “massive” participation, and Unai Sordo of the CCOO union said turnout was “very significant”. The Spanish Confederation of Business Organisations said participation was “low and uneven”. The interior ministry said dozens of people were arrested in a range of incidents.
Half a salary on rent
The monthly rent for a 50-square-metre flat in Madrid averaged €1,170 in October, according to property listings data, against an average gross monthly salary in Spain of about €2,460. That is far above the 30 per cent of income that housing experts consider affordable. Protests grew after the eviction of 87-year-old Maricarmen Abascal from a Madrid flat where she had lived for seven decades. She died in hospital weeks later.
An election in two weeks
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, who called a snap election for November 29 after parliament failed to approve his housing reform, and his ministers encouraged workers to join. “Your eight-hour day. Your pension. Your public healthcare… These were collective conquests,” he wrote on social media.
The conservative People’s Party, which leads the polls, accused the government of exploiting the strike for electoral gain. Its leader, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, called the strike “nonsense” and the unions “mafia”. “What is nonsense is to question the rights of workers to strike,” Sánchez told Spanish television.
