Spain will face a general strike over the housing affordability crisis on Wednesday, November 11, in a protest backed by CCOO and UGT, along with social organisations linked to recent rent demonstrations.
According to information published by EL PAÍS on Wednesday, the strike will be the first general strike jointly supported by the two major unions in 14 years. The mobilisation is expected to last 24 hours and will focus on demands for wages that allow workers to afford housing, as well as measures to respond to rising rents and home prices.
UGT and CCOO had already announced last Monday their decision to call a general strike, although at that point they had not yet confirmed a specific date. The choice of November 11 places the protest directly within the electoral calendar.
Spain’s general elections are scheduled for Sunday, November 29, while the official campaign will begin at 12:00 a.m. on Friday, November 13, according to the royal decree calling the election published in the Official State Gazette. That means the strike will take place two days before the start of the election campaign and 18 days before voters go to the polls.
Why the general strike is being called
CCOO and UGT justify the mobilisation by pointing to the impact that housing prices are having on workers’ income. Both unions argue that current wages make it increasingly difficult for part of the population to access housing, whether through rent or home ownership.
With this strike, the unions aim to bring the labour movement into the wider wave of protests that, in recent weeks, have demanded measures on rents, evictions and affordable housing. On Monday, the two unions agreed to call a 24-hour general strike “for the right to housing and decent wages to pay for it”, in coordination with social movements and tenant organisations.
According to information published on Wednesday, the mobilisation will also be joined by unions with strong regional influence, including CIG in Galicia and ELA and LAB in the Basque Country. The central argument behind the strike is that the housing crisis is no longer only a social or urban issue, but also a labour issue.
For the unions, the growing gap between wages and housing costs has a direct effect on workers’ living standards and on their ability to build stable lives.
Employers’ associations oppose the strike
The employers’ associations CEOE and Cepyme have expressed their opposition to the call for a strike. In a joint statement released on Tuesday, both organisations argued that the demands being raised are mainly aimed at legislative and budgetary changes in housing policy.
In their view, these are matters that depend on public administrations rather than directly on companies. For that reason, the employers’ associations consider it “unacceptable” to transfer the cost of a mobilisation aimed at changing public housing policies onto companies, workers and economic activity.
They also questioned the timing of the strike, given its proximity to the general elections on November 29. However, the statement issued on Tuesday also noted that, at that moment, there was still no formal notice or confirmed date for the strike. That situation changed with the agreement on November 11 reported on Wednesday.
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has publicly defended the unions’ right to call the protest and has linked the mobilisation to an issue that affects workers and families: access to housing.
First joint general strike since 2012
The November 11 strike will be the first general strike jointly supported by CCOO and UGT in 14 years. The previous one took place on November 14, 2012, during Mariano Rajoy’s government, in protest against austerity policies.
That strike was also part of a broader day of European mobilisation held in several countries. Earlier that same year, on March 29, CCOO and UGT had also called a general strike against labour reform.
Since 1988, the two unions have jointly supported several major nationwide strikes: December 14, 1988; May 28, 1992; January 27, 1994; June 20, 2002; September 29, 2010; and the two general strikes held in 2012.
Housing at the centre of the political agenda
The strike scheduled for November 11 will have a distinctive feature: housing will be the central focus of a general strike. This comes at a time when access to rental housing and home ownership has become one of the major issues in Spain’s public debate.
The question of how to respond to rising rents, high property prices and growing difficulties for workers and families is expected to remain a key topic in the run-up to the general elections. With the protest set just two days before the official start of the campaign, the housing crisis is likely to occupy an even more prominent place in the political agenda.
Overall, the November 11 strike will bring together trade unions, tenant organisations and social movements around a shared demand: that housing affordability be treated as a central issue for workers, families and public policy.
