Spanish workers stage huge general strike, first in 14 years, angry over housing

Less than three weeks before a snap national election that could catapult the far-right to power, millions of Spain’s workers were striking on Wednesday to demand that the government remedy the nation’s housing crisis.

They set up picket lines despite stormy weather in a mass protest against housing affordability.

The general strike – Spain’s first in 14 years – was causing delays in the public transport system and slowing down factories across the euro zone’s fourth-largest economy.

Many schools and universities reportedly closed or were working at minimal capacity.

In the capital, Madrid, this adds to an ongoing strike started by teachers nearly a month ago to demand better working conditions.

Wednesday’s strike is backed by Spain’s two largest unions, UGT and CCOO, as well as other labour ‌organisations and tenants’ associations angry about rising rents and evictions.

“We won’t stop until we transform this country’s housing model from top to bottom so that houses are for living instead of being at the service of the rentier minority,” said Alicia del Rio, spokesperson for the Madrid Tenants’ Union, as the strike began at midnight.

Spain has a deficit of about 750,000 homes, which is set to grow to more than a million by 2028, according to the central bank.

With fewer people able to afford a home, renting has increased sharply, putting pressure on ⁠that market.

The average rental price of €1,176 (US$1,315) is equivalent to about 98.7 per cent of a young person’s average monthly salary in Spain, according to the Youth Council of ‌Spain.

Plans for massive protest marches in the afternoon were threatened by two storms, dubbed Charles and Bruna, that led weather agency AEMET to issue alerts for 14 regions over strong winds, rough seas ‌and heavy rains.

According to UGT and CCOO, early participation in the strike reached 90 per cent at ports and in the automotive ⁠sector, with “total stoppages” reported at factories including ⁠Volkswagen’s in Navarre and SEAT’s in Barcelona.

The unions also put early turnout at 85 per cent in the meat industry, 82 per cent in waste collection and 75 per cent in the energy sector. They said participation ‌was lower in healthcare and social services, at 38 per cent, and at 35 per cent in the postal service.

Tensions flared at the start of the strike at Madrid’s Mercamadrid wholesale market, where about 1,000 protesters gathered.

CCOO’s ‌Madrid ‌branch said on X that police fired pepper spray at pickets and arrested one of them, with 13 people requiring medical attention.

A police spokesperson confirmed ‌the arrest but not the use of pepper spray, although he said it was used to disperse a separate picket line in the Carabanchel district.

The strike follows weeks of demonstrations and encampments provoked by the eviction and subsequent death of an 87-year-old woman in Madrid.

Those protests, along with parliament’s ⁠rejection last month of government decrees aimed at curbing evictions and limiting rent pressures, prompted Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez to call an election for November 29.

The government has largely blamed the right-wing opposition running many regions and municipalities for rising rents and insufficient housing supply.

Sanchez, whose ‌Socialist Party lags in opinion polls, hopes to ‌harness voter resentment over housing and shift the political narrative away from a series of corruption cases involving his inner circle and a deadly train crash last month.

But union leaders and many of the protesters have said they also hold the central government responsible for the housing crisis, as well as for Spain’s second fatal train crash this year.

On Tuesday, train drivers walked out to demand more investment in maintenance and safety, causing widespread travel disruption.