The general strike begins with clashes between pickets and Police at Mercamadrid

As of November 11, 2026, the main parliamentary proposal promoted by tenant unions, regarding temporary and room rentals, expired with the dissolution of the Cortes on October 6. Therefore, it is no longer simply blocked or awaiting a vote: its processing ended without becoming law. It is important to distinguish it from the more recent union demands and the housing decrees rejected in October.

The main initiative: temporary rentals and rooms

The Bill for the regulation of temporary rental contracts and room rentals, file 122/000136, was published on October 31, 2024. Its purpose was to extend the guarantees of regular rentals to these modalities and prevent them from being used to circumvent residential regulation. The proposal was promoted by the unions and presented by Sumar, ERC, EH Bildu, and representatives of Podemos and BNG (Demócrata, 12/17/2024).

Its course must be separated into several moments:

• First attempt rejected. An earlier version, presented in June 2024, did not pass the initial debate on September 17. That procedure ended; it was not the same initiative that continued afterward (Demócrata, 09/17/2024).
• Second attempt politically admitted. On December 17, 2024, it passed the consideration vote, that is, the vote by which Congress decides to start processing a proposal (Demócrata, 12/17/2024).
• Subsequent parliamentary work. In November 2025, the work of the committee began, the group of deputies preparing the text. The Plenary agreed on November 27 to reserve the debate and final vote, a decision published on December 3 (BOCG, 12/03/2025).
• End without approval. The initiative expired on October 6, 2026, with the dissolution of the Cortes. It did not become an approved law (Dissolution BOE).

Measures left unfinished

The second proposal suggested documentary justification of temporality and initially setting a maximum of nine months, compared to six in the first attempt. It also intended that certain excessive durations or contract chaining be treated as regular rentals. During negotiations, there were differences about deadlines and the inclusion of rooms, as well as fiscal proposals; these were topics under discussion, not approved obligations (Demócrata, 11/18/2025).

The "Maricarmen decree" and new demands

The so-called "Maricarmen decree" was the name given by the unions to their September 2026 package, not the official name of a regulation. It included protection against evictions, rent freezes, regulation of seasonal and room rentals, and automatic contract renewals. Part of their demands was incorporated into two government decrees which, according to published information, were rejected by Congress on October 2; those measures were nullified (Demócrata, 10/03/2026).

The union program presented in November adds a constitutional reform and a statute for tenants. These are political demands: in the sources consulted, there is no record of parliamentary processing specific to this new package (Demócrata, 11/09/2026). The practical conclusion is that there is no pending approval that can be considered imminent: the main proposal ended without becoming law.

The Ministry of the Interior can direct and coordinate the deployments of the National Police and Civil Guard during a general strike to protect people, property, and the exercise of rights. This competence does not allow preventing a lawful strike nor implies automatic command over all autonomous and local police forces: it must be exercised respecting their competencies and constitutional guarantees.

1. Basis and purpose of the intervention

Article 104 of the Spanish Constitution entrusts the Security Forces and Corps to "protect the free exercise of rights and freedoms and guarantee citizen security." Therefore, the deployment must also protect those exercising the right to strike, recognized in article 28.2, and those participating in peaceful demonstrations, protected by article 21.

Articles 1 and 3 of Organic Law 2/1986 assign the Government the maintenance of public security and establish reciprocal cooperation and coordination through legally provided bodies. The call for a general strike does not by itself alter this ordinary framework.

2. Who plans, coordinates, and executes

Royal Decree 207/2024, which develops the Ministry's structure, distributes these responsibilities:

• State Secretariat for Security: under the minister's authority, exercises command of state forces and coordinates and supervises their services and missions. Article 2.1 also assigns it to protect the rights of assembly and demonstration and coordinate the competencies of the Government Delegations and Subdelegations in citizen security.
• Directorate General for Coordination and Studies: article 6 tasks it with preparing instructions and master and operational plans for citizen security, supervising their execution, and supporting coordination with autonomous and local police.
• Directorates General of the Police and Civil Guard: articles 3 and 4 assign them direct command of their bodies, direction of services, and distribution of units or resources. Operational chains specify these decisions.

Additionally, article 14.1 of Organic Law 2/1986 provides that Interior determines the Civil Guard services related to citizen security. Its military nature does not turn a strike deployment into a military mission.

3. Coordination with other administrations

Hierarchical command must be distinguished from coordination among administrations. Interior directs state forces; collaboration with autonomous and local police must respect their competence areas and be articulated through the corresponding legal mechanisms.

Organic Law 2/1986 contemplates coordination bodies, including autonomous and local security boards. These allow harmonizing actions and organizing cooperation but do not justify Interior indiscriminately replacing autonomous or municipal authorities.

4. Limits during the strike

The deployment has a protective purpose, not to neutralize the protest. Article 3.2 of Organic Law 9/1983 obliges protecting assemblies and demonstrations against those attempting to prevent or disturb them. They do not require prior authorization, although those held in public roads are subject to communication.

Prohibition requires founded reasons of public order disturbance with danger to people or property; dissolution must comply with legal assumptions. Likewise, article 5 of Organic Law 2/1986 requires neutrality, impartiality, and congruence, timeliness, and proportionality in the means employed.

In short, Interior can plan deployments, assign resources, and coordinate police responses, but a strike does not by itself constitute a threat that authorizes general restrictions. These must have legal basis and are subject to judicial control provided in article 106 of the Constitution.

Pepe Álvarez has developed a fundamentally union career, not in public office: he began as a workers' representative in a Barcelona factory, led UGT of Catalonia for 26 years, and has headed the national organization since 2016. His political dimension comes from negotiation with governments and employers and his involvement in labor and territorial debates.

From Asturias to industrial unionism

Born in Belmonte de Miranda, Asturias, on March 20, 1956, he moved to Barcelona in 1975, at 19 years old, to work at La Maquinista Terrestre y Marítima, later integrated into Alstom. There he began his union activity during the transition to democracy.

In 1976 he was elected member of the UGT secretariat at his workplace and, in 1978, joined the works council. He then began to assume responsibilities in the Metal Union of Barcelona. During the 1980s, he expanded his organizational and union action functions in the Metal Federation of UGT of Catalonia. This industrial stage was the basis of his later career, according to the ETUC biography.

Twenty-six years leading UGT of Catalonia

In 1989 he chaired the managing commission of the Catalan organization and, in 1990, was elected general secretary, a responsibility he held until 2016. During that period, he defended greater union autonomy from parties and an organization open to Catalan social diversity.

His leadership combined negotiation with companies and administrations with participation in labor conflicts and political debates. His position on the Catalan territorial question also generated controversy: he maintained an open attitude to debate on the right to decide and, under his direction, UGT of Catalonia collaborated with Òmnium. This aspect of his career should be distinguished from an institutional career: in the sources consulted, there is no record of him being a deputy, senator, or government member.

The succession of Cándido Méndez and national leadership

In March 2016 he won the 42nd UGT Confederal Congress and succeeded Cándido Méndez. It was a contested election: he defeated Miguel Ángel Cilleros by 17 votes. His candidacy proposed renewing the organization and recovering reivindicative capacity after the economic crisis, as this profile of his career shows.

He was re-elected in 2021 and, in November 2024, obtained a third and final term with 79.44% of the votes, expected until 2028. The UGT information and the chronicle of his re-election document this continuity.

At the head of UGT, he has combined mobilization and social dialogue, that is, negotiation among unions, employers, and government. His priorities have included recovering labor rights, strengthening collective bargaining, improving wages and pensions, and reducing working time. During the pandemic, he participated in negotiations to protect employment. His European dimension expanded in 2019, when he was elected vice president of the European Trade Union Confederation.

A political influence exercised from the union

Álvarez maintains a public intervention that goes beyond the workplace. In October 2025, he advocated reducing the workweek to 37.5 hours as a step towards 32, according to Demócrata. In December of that year, he praised the social record of Pedro Sánchez's government, especially in hiring and pensions, as reported by Demócrata newspaper. His career is thus understood as that of a union leader with political influence, not as an elected representative for governance.