Strike: General strike in Spain paralyzes ports and car factories

Madrid. In Spain, the first general strike in 14 years has brought large parts of the country to a standstill. A few weeks before the early parliamentary election, workers on Wednesday followed the calls of the two largest unions UGT and CCOO as well as other employee organizations and tenants' associations for a mass protest against the housing shortage.

The strikers took up picket lines despite stormy weather. The background is anger over rising rents and evictions. “We will not stop until we have fundamentally transformed the housing system in this country so that houses are for living in and not at the service of a minority that lives on rental income,” said Madrid tenants union spokeswoman Alicia del Rio at the start of the strike at midnight.

According to the UGT and CCOO unions, strike participation initially reached 90 percent in the ports and in the automobile industry. Work came to a complete standstill in several factories, including the Volkswagen plants in Navarra and the Seat subsidiary in Barcelona. According to the information, strike participation in the meat industry was 85 percent, in the garbage collection it was 82 percent and in the energy sector it was 75 percent. It was lower in the health and social services sector at 38 percent and in the post office at 35 percent.

Two approaching storms threatened plans for large protest marches in the afternoon. The weather service Aemet warned of strong winds, heavy rain and stormy seas for 14 regions. Tensions arose at the start of the strike at Madrid's Mercamadrid wholesale market, where around 1,000 demonstrators gathered.

Police used pepper spray against picketers and arrested one of them, according to the Madrid federation of the CCOO union. 13 people therefore had to receive medical care. A police spokesman confirmed the arrest, but not the use of pepper spray at that location. In the Carabanchel district, however, the irritant gas was used to break up another meeting.

According to the central bank, there is a shortage of around 750,000 apartments in Spain, and by 2028 there will be a shortage of more than a million. Fewer and fewer people can afford to own their own home. This has put the rental market under severe pressure. According to the Spanish Youth Council, the average rent of 1,176 euros corresponds to around 98.7 percent of the average monthly salary of young people in Spain.

The general strike follows weeks of demonstrations and protest camps following the forced eviction from the apartment of a now deceased 87-year-old woman in Madrid. These protests, as well as parliament's rejection of government decrees against evictions and rent increases last month, prompted Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez to call new elections for November 29. His minority government largely blames the right-wing opposition ruling in many regions and municipalities for rising rents and the inadequate housing supply.

Sanchez's Social Democratic Party is trailing in the polls. The prime minister hopes to capitalize on voter discontent over the housing crisis and divert the political debate from a series of corruption cases in his inner circle and a serious train accident last month. But union leaders and many protesters said they also blamed the central government for the housing crisis and for Spain's second serious train crash this year. Train drivers went on strike on Tuesday to demand more investment in maintenance and safety, causing massive traffic disruptions.