How Spain's tenants' movement is mobilizing for the general strike

General strike in Spain How Spain's tenant movement is mobilizing As of: November 11, 2026 • 6:16 a.m

For the first time since 2012, a general strike is taking place in Spain today. The idea for this did not come from an employee representative, but from a tenants' association. This is likely to also influence the upcoming election campaign.

Saturday morning in front of the Sant Antoni market hall in Barcelona. A small group of activists met at a street intersection for a "Corre-Comerços," a tour through the neighborhood's shops. The goal is to convince as many employees and business owners as possible to stop work this Wednesday.

It is the first major general strike since 2012, involving the two majority unions UGT and Comisiones Obreras. The strike should not only demand more wages, but also for nationwide rent reductions and stricter requirements for real estate companies and investment funds.

"It's almost impossible for young people to find affordable housing in cities like Barcelona," says Biel, tucking posters and flyers under his arm. The man in his mid-twenties works in a social foundation and is a member of the Sindicat de Llogateres, the Catalan "tenants' union".

There are now branches of the clubs founded in Madrid and Barcelona in 2017 throughout Spain. They organized the protest camps after the eviction of the now deceased pensioner Maricarmen. The initiative for the general strike also came from them.

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Biel sets off together with two fellow campaigners. First stop: a shop selling household and decorative items. Stuffed reindeer and porcelain cups are stacked on the shelves. The employee initially waves him off. She says she doesn't speak Spanish or Catalan particularly well and doesn't know what a "huelga", a strike, actually is. But Biel cannot be shaken off. "It's very simple: Instead of working, we all demonstrate together against the high rents."

Biel is allowed to place a few flyers on the counter and then continues on to the supermarket. The works council informed her about the general strike, says one employee. She herself will go to work voluntarily, but will support the demands of the unions. "A normal, small apartment costs 1,200 euros, as much as the Spanish minimum wage," she says. With a gross wage of 1,800 euros, both her husband and she earned above-average income. "But what are the others doing? And how will my children be able to afford an apartment if this continues?"

Rents in Spain have been rising dramatically since 2015. In the country where most people traditionally live in their own homes, young people in particular began to look for rental apartments in metropolitan areas. After the financial crisis, banks hardly granted any more loans and little was built.

Spain is still one of the worst performers in Europe when it comes to social housing construction. At the same time, pressure increased - due to tourism, wealthy tenants from abroad and immigration. But the housing shortage is more than just a problem of supply and demand, says Biel. "The biggest problem is speculation. Business should not be done with something as vital as housing."

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In addition to a legal limit on rents and an expansion of the public housing stock, the rental movement also calls for punitive taxes for companies that speculate in housing, for example by selling off acquired properties after less than two years. Artificial vacancies should be banned and prosecuted.

While the parties on the left spectrum are open to such demands and welcome the general strike, the opposition from the conservative People's Party PP and the right-wing extremist Vox describes it as a "disgrace" and "election campaign maneuver". At the end of November, Spain will elect a new parliament in early elections. The strike took place shortly before the start of the official election campaign. According to the opposition, the call cannot be justified under labor law.

Enric Aragonès, spokesman for the Catalan Tenants Association, strongly disagrees. "The rights of women workers cannot be viewed in isolation from the housing shortage. Wage increases are of no use if at the same time rents rise so much that they eat up more than half of the wages." This leads to a division in society.

Biel believes such debates are a waste of time. His trust in the parties is limited. "Ballots won't solve the problem. We have to take the problem into our own hands and put constant pressure on the parties," says the young man, handing out the last flyers in a café. Spain's tenants' unions want to maintain the pressure on politicians under the new government. Regardless of who will rule the country in the future.

This topic in the program: MDR aktuell - The news radio | News | 11/10/2026 | 3:17 p.m