Source : Reuters
MADRID, November 11, 2026 – Workers across Spain staged the country’s first general strike in 14 years on Wednesday, as the two largest unions called a 24-hour walkout over a worsening housing crisis weeks before a snap general election, the Associated Press and Reuters reported.
The stoppage was called jointly by the Unión General de Trabajadores (UGT) and Comisiones Obreras (CCOO), together with other labour groups and tenants’ associations, Al Jazeera reported. It is the first general strike the two confederations have called since 2012, during Spain’s austerity crisis.
UGT and CCOO said in a joint statement that participation in the early hours was widespread, with “significant work stoppages in strategic sectors”, the Associated Press reported. The unions put early turnout at 90 per cent in the automotive and port sectors, with complete production stoppages at Volkswagen’s plant in Navarre and SEAT’s plant in Barcelona, at 85 per cent in the meat industry, 82 per cent in waste collection and 75 per cent in the energy sector, according to the statement as reported by the Spanish outlet Demócrata and the Associated Press. They put participation at 38 per cent in social and healthcare services, where they said minimum services were being respected, and at about 35 per cent in the postal service.
Deutsche Welle reported road blockades, picket lines and clashes with police in several parts of the country. In Madrid, the action added to an ongoing teachers’ strike that began nearly a month earlier, the Associated Press said. Many schools and universities were closed or operating at reduced capacity, and public transport faced delays.
The Bank of Spain estimates the country has about 750,000 fewer homes than it needs, a gap that could exceed one million by 2028, Al Jazeera and the BBC reported. Average rents have risen to 1,176 euros a month, close to the average monthly salary of a young person in Spain, according to figures compiled by the Spanish Youth Council and cited by Al Jazeera. The BBC, citing economist María Jesús Fernández Sánchez of the think tank Funcas, said rents advertised on the Idealista portal had risen by 44 per cent since 2021, while average pay had increased by 22 per cent over the same period.
The mobilisation follows weeks of protests after the eviction in September of 87-year-old Maricarmen Abascal from her Madrid home, after her corporate landlord raised the rent. She has since died. Images of her being removed on a stretcher prompted nationwide demonstrations and encampments, and helped fuel a political crisis that led Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez to call a snap election for November 29, Al Jazeera reported.
Sánchez has not explicitly endorsed the strike, but on Monday he praised collective action, saying: “Your eight-hour working day. Your pension. Your public healthcare. None of this fell from the sky. They were collective achievements. We will not let anyone take them away from us,” according to Al Jazeera. The conservative Popular Party, which leads in opinion polls, and the far-right Vox party have dismissed the strike as politically motivated, Al Jazeera said. BBC News noted that this is the first Spanish general strike in which housing, rather than labour-law changes or budget cuts, has been the central demand.
The election is 18 days away. A Popular Party government backed by Vox would bring a far-right party into Spain’s national government for the first time since the end of Francisco Franco’s dictatorship in 1975, Al Jazeera reported.
Source: Reuters’ X; Associated Press, Al Jazeera, BBC, Deutsche Welle and CCOO-UGT via Demócrata
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