Spain holds first general strike in 14 years over housing crisis

Spain staged its first nationwide general strike in 14 years as unions, tenants’ groups and other worker organisations mobilised against soaring rents and forced evictions. More than one million workers were expected to take part, and the action came three weeks before parliamentary elections.

The walkout was jointly backed by the country’s two largest trade unions and by various local workers’ collectives and tenants’ associations angered by the rapid rise in rents and a wave of evictions.

Widespread stoppages hit key industries

Unions warned of delays to public transport and widespread closures of shops, factories and other businesses. In the early hours of the strike there were reports of small incidents as workers — many of them gathering from midnight — joined picket lines across the country.

According to union statements released after the strike began at midnight, roughly 90 percent of the automotive and port industries halted operations, 85 percent of meat processors stopped work and 75 percent of the energy sector was affected.

Organisers said the general strike was the culmination of weeks of demonstrations and tent encampments sparked by forced evictions and the subsequent death of an 87‑year‑old woman in Madrid. “We will not stop until we completely transform the housing model in this country, so homes serve for living rather than serving the minority that lives off rents,” said Alicia del Rio, spokesperson of the Tenants' Union in Madrid.

The national government pointed at the right‑wing opposition — which governs many regions and municipalities — as mainly responsible for rising rents and the shortage of housing supply.

Photo: press material from the event