CCOO and UGT in the Basque Country, together with various social organizations, have issued a call to support the general strike this Wednesday, 11 November, convened to demand "better wages, for decent housing, and price control in the face of an inflation that weighs down" citizens' purchasing power.
BLP-ACPP Assembly of Cooperation for Peace of Euskadi, CITE Euskadi, the Consortium of African and Afrikans associations of Bizkaia, which organizes the Afrika Eguna of Bilbao, Economists Without Borders, Greenpeace Euskadi, CGIL Bologna, IG Metall Gera & Jena-Saalfeld, Mundubat, Osalde Oxfam, Intermon Paz and Solidaridad, Sodepaz Euskal Herria, and Zehar Errefuxiatuekin have joined the initiative of both unions.
The signatory entities call on people to mobilize on Wednesday in "shared concern for millions of people" that "working and earning a wage no longer guarantees making ends meet, accessing housing, or building a future with security".
As they denounce, "the daily effort of the working class loses value while the price of housing, the grocery basket, transport, and basic supplies absorb the largest part of income".
In this context, they emphasize that the general strike "arises to turn the problems each person faces in solitude into a collective and organized demand".
Housing and the cost of living, at the center of the demands
Among the main demands, they highlight the need to guarantee "affordable and decent housing", which, in their view, requires "stopping speculation, regulating the market, and expanding public housing so that renting or paying a mortgage does not swallow wages".
They also demand "a real improvement in wages", so that "purchasing power is recovered in the face of inflation and that economic growth translates into a real improvement in people's lives".
The organizations also underscore the urgency of a "reduction in the cost of living" and call on people to "demand that companies reduce their profit margins on essential goods and services and avoid abuses of economic power".
They also claim for quality public services and argue that it is essential "to guarantee sufficient funding and staff for healthcare, education, care, and transport, stopping privatization and deterioration".
For all these reasons, they urge people to join the union demonstrations scheduled for the day 11 in the morning "and in those of a plural nature driven in the afternoon by social movements".