CCOO and UGT call Spain-wide 24-hour strike over housing

Spain’s largest trade union confederations, CCOO and UGT, have called a nationwide 24-hour general strike for 11 November, joining housing campaigners in a protest over rents, evictions and working conditions.

The call follows the death of an 87-year-old Madrid tenant whose eviction became a focus of public anger over housing costs. It also comes after Congress rejected government proposals to strengthen tenant protections, with a general election scheduled for 29 November.

Housing and work at the centre

The unions say the stoppage will combine demands for affordable homes, limits on excessive rents and more public housing with calls for higher wages, better working conditions and stronger employment rights. CCOO and UGT have not staged a jointly backed nationwide general strike since 2012, according to The Leader.

The tenant, who had lived in her flat for more than 70 years, paid about €500 a month before the property changed hands. She was reportedly asked to pay around €2,500 a month. On 23 September, after three unsuccessful eviction attempts, she was taken from the flat on a stretcher and brought to hospital. The property company later agreed to a new tenancy allowing her to return. She died in hospital on 7 October; her cause of death has not been publicly disclosed.

Her treatment prompted demonstrations, including a camp in Madrid’s Puerta del Sol, with similar actions reported in other cities. The strike is due two days before the official election campaign begins.

A movement broadens its focus

Spain’s housing movement grew after the 2008 financial crisis, when families faced mortgage arrears, repossession and eviction. The Platform for People Affected by Mortgages, established in 2009, organised campaigns for households at risk of losing their homes.

As institutional investors expanded their role in the rental market, activism increasingly focused on tenants facing higher rents and insecure tenancies. The planned stoppage brings those housing concerns together with workplace demands.

Source: The Leader.