Spain's Largest Unions Call General Strike Over Housing Crisis Ahead of Snap Election

Spain's two largest trade unions have announced a nationwide general strike for November 11 to protest the country's escalating housing crisis, setting the stage for a major confrontation with the government just weeks before a snap general election scheduled for November 29.

The Workers' General Union, known as UGT, and the Workers' Commissions, or CCOO, revealed the strike date on Wednesday, though the decision still requires formal ratification from other smaller unions at a meeting later in the day. If confirmed, it would mark the first time in 14 years that Spain's two dominant labor organizations have jointly backed a general strike, underscoring the depth of public anger over housing costs.

The announcement follows weeks of increasingly vocal demonstrations across Spain that were initially sparked by the eviction of an 87-year-old woman from her home in Madrid. Maria del Carmen Abascal, widely known throughout the country simply as Maricarmen, has become the human face of a housing emergency that has been building for years but has now erupted into a full-blown political crisis.

Maricarmen's case struck a particular nerve because of its stark details. An international investment fund purchased the building where she had lived for decades and raised her rent by more than 200 percent, bringing it to roughly $1,880 per month. The clear intention was to push out the long-term tenant and convert the property into lucrative tourist apartments, a practice that has become increasingly common in Spain's major cities and coastal regions.

The eviction ignited a wave of protests organized by the Madrid Tenants' Union, which set up encampments in the capital's central Puerta del Sol square. Tens of thousands of demonstrators gathered in the iconic plaza, and the movement quickly spread to dozens of other Spanish cities, including Barcelona, where similar eviction disputes have fueled local activism.

Speaking about the broader frustrations driving the strike, Madrid Tenants' Union spokesperson Valeria Racu explained the impossible math facing ordinary workers. She noted that housing consumes the majority of most people's wages and questioned what purpose minimum wage increases serve when housing costs are climbing three, four, or even five times faster than incomes.

The scale of Spain's housing shortage is staggering. According to the Bank of Spain, the country faces a deficit of approximately 750,000 homes, and that figure is projected to exceed one million by 2028 if current trends continue. The gap between housing supply and demand has been widening for years, driven by a combination of factors including insufficient new construction, the proliferation of short-term tourist rentals, and speculative investment by institutional funds.

Young Spaniards are bearing the brunt of the crisis. Data from the Youth Council of Spain shows that the average rental price of 1,176 euros, equivalent to about $1,315, now consumes approximately 98.7 percent of a young person's average monthly salary. This effectively means that an entire generation of Spaniards cannot afford to live independently, forcing many to remain in their parents' homes well into adulthood.

The political dimension of the crisis intensified last week when Spain's parliament failed to pass emergency measures designed to address the housing emergency. The legislative defeat prompted Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, who has led the government since 2018, to call an early election for November 29, cutting short his current term in office.

Sanchez's decision to go to the polls reflects the political peril posed by the housing crisis. Opinion polls consistently place him behind his main rival, Alberto Nunez Feijoo, the leader of the conservative Popular Party. Feijoo, however, suffered a significant setback in the 2023 general election when his party finished first but failed to secure enough support from other parties to form a governing coalition.

Current polling suggests that Feijoo will not achieve an outright majority this time either, meaning he would likely need the support of the far-right Vox party to govern. Vox leader Santiago Abascal is positioning his party as a potential kingmaker in the aftermath of the election, which could give the far right an unprecedented role in Spanish national politics.

The general strike, if it proceeds as planned, would add significant pressure on both the government and employers in the weeks leading up to the vote. General strikes in Spain typically paralyze transportation networks, close factories and businesses, and bring public services to a halt, sending a powerful message about the depth of public dissatisfaction.

For the unions, the decision to call a joint strike reflects the growing recognition that housing has become a class issue that affects their entire membership base. Unlike traditional labor disputes over wages or working conditions, the housing crisis cuts across all sectors and age groups, making it a unifying cause that can mobilize workers beyond the unions' traditional constituencies.

The timing of the strike is also politically significant. By scheduling it just 18 days before the election, unions are effectively forcing housing onto the center stage of the campaign. All major party leaders will be compelled to respond to the strike and articulate their plans for addressing the crisis, whether they welcome the disruption or criticize it as politically motivated.

The coming weeks will test whether Spain's political system can channel the energy of the protest movement into concrete policy solutions. The encampments and demonstrations have demonstrated the public's willingness to take action, and the general strike represents an escalation that neither the government nor the opposition can afford to ignore.