Spanish Unions Call General Strike for November 11 Over Housing, Weeks Before Snap Election
Spain's two largest unions, UGT and CCOO, announced on Wednesday, October 7, a nationwide general strike over housing for November 11, a few weeks before the November 29 snap election. The date was agreed by both unions and was to be formally ratified with other unions later that day. It will be the first general strike jointly backed by the two largest unions in 14 years.
The strike is the latest protest provoked by the eviction of an 87-year-old woman in Madrid, with activists camping on a main square in the capital demanding solutions to the housing crisis. Parliament's rejection of anti-eviction decrees last week prompted Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez to call the early election.
The Bank of Spain estimates a housing deficit of about 750,000 homes, set to grow to more than a million by 2028. Average rent of 1,176 euros a month equals about 98.7% of a young person's average monthly salary, according to the Youth Council of Spain.
Sanchez is seeking to shift the narrative from the Ceuta migrant crisis and corruption cases involving his party and family to housing; the strike's scale will be a key campaign variable.
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图片 Image: Huelga general del 14 de noviembre de 2012 en Madrid (4).jpg by Israel Hergón (CC BY-SA 2.0，经维基共享资源）/ via Wikimedia Commons
