November 11 general strike rocks Spain

Madrid, Spain – Millions of workers refused to go to work and took to the streets throughout the Spanish state in a general strike on November 11. The strike demanded government action on salaries, housing and prices. The cost of living in Spain has skyrocketed while wages haven’t kept up, as is true in many other European countries. This has sparked a wave of massive and militant protests and strikes this fall throughout Europe.

The general strike was initiated by the General Workers’ Union (UGT) and the Union Confederation of Workers’ Commissions (CCOO), which each represent around a million workers.

Massive protests against spiraling housing costs and evictions have rocked Spain since October. Those protests were the spark that led unions to call the November 11 general strike. The housing justice movement began with the eviction of an elderly woman named Maricarmen, whose apartment was purchased by a private equity firm that jacked her rent up and then evicted her. She died a couple of weeks after the eviction. Thousands of people have set up protest encampments in Madrid and other major cities, and hundreds of thousands of people have marched to demand affordable housing and an end to evictions.

Organizers from the housing justice movement united with Spain’s major union federations to call for the November 11 general strike. This was Spain’s first general strike in 14 years, dating back to the deep austerity that was imposed on the poorer countries in the European Union following the global financial crisis.

As usually happens during strikes, Spain’s capitalists claimed that the strike was a failure and that few workers participated. The UGT and CCOO responded that the marches were massive despite rain and declared that the strike was a bigger success than they had expected. The UGT gave specific numbers of strike participation by industry, for example citing 75% participation in logistics, and claimed the largest participation was in sectors like electronics, industrial production, automation, petrochemicals, meatpacking, waste management and transportation. They cited especially large participation in Catalonia and Andalucía.

The biggest march during the general strike was in Madrid. Media reports noted that participation in the marches during the November 11 strike was larger than during the general strikes in 2010 and 2012.

Public school educators in Madrid joined in the general strike; they have already been on an indefinite strike since October 14. Their ongoing strike is mainly over demands to reduce student-teacher ratios, as well as excessive class hours and paperwork. Their strike was called by a coalition of nine unions.

In the Basque Country in the northeast of the Spanish state, there is a long-standing mass movement for independence from Spain, which includes strong unions and left wing organizations. While there has not been a general strike throughout the Spanish state since 2012, this is the fifth general strike led by Basque unions just since 2020.

The Basque union Nationalist Workers’ Committees (LAB), which is an affiliate of the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU), cited broad participation in the November 11 general strike in the Basque Country. LAB reported that more than 200,000 people marched in the four Basque regional capitals of Vitoria-Gasteiz, Bilbao, San Sebastian, and Pamplona as well as many other cities and towns.

A statement from the LAB union said, “LAB reminds people that the general strike should serve to give firm and structural steps toward guaranteeing the right to housing. Housing has been converted into a main cause of workers’ impoverishment and precarity, as speculation exacerbates unjust wealth inequality while deepening social divides. Therefore, the union has issued a call to fight for and demand decent housing and wages in the Basque Country, in order to counter impoverishment and predatory landlords.”

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