The housing issue and the rise in the cost of living have been this Wednesday the focus of the demonstration called by CCOO and UGT in Zaragoza, as a capstone to the general strike day of November 11. The trade union centers have taken to the street the social demands that accompany the labor claims raised during the stoppages and have stressed that this mobilization does not mean the end of their actions, but the start of a new phase of pressure.
The march set out at 6:00 p.m. from Puerta del Carmen and advanced to Plaza Europa. Before it began, the general secretaries of CCOO Aragón, Manuel Pina, and of UGT Aragón, José Juan Arceiz, detailed that the call was intended to highlight the social aspect of the strike, placing emphasis on the problems of accessing housing, both for rent and for purchase.
"In this one in Zaragoza we wanted everything that we have worked on during these weeks, everything that we have worked on today in the stoppages in the companies, in the stoppages in the sectors, to be seen in the afternoon demonstration," Pina explained, drawing differences between this mobilization and the strictly labor-related demands on which the unions had concentrated their efforts in the morning.
The leader of CCOO has argued that the lack of control of prices, wages that do not cover basic expenses, and the rising cost of housing respond to the same reality of inequality. "We are talking about the fact that companies are setting record profits and that is not really being distributed in society," he stressed.
Housing and the cost of living, at the center of the protest
Pina highlighted the involvement of youth groups and social organizations in the march to give visibility to their demands. "We have done it with young people, with youth groups, with social groups who are going to come in our demonstration, so that they are very much the protagonists," he said.
In his view, access to housing represents "the biggest social fracture we have at this moment." He reiterated that the difficulties in having a home must be analyzed together with the evolution of wages and the rest of everyday expenses.
Arceiz, for his part, criticized that the debate had focused on the impact of the strike on consumption, after it was pointed out that there had been a drop of around five percent.
"Those responsible who have said it should be concerned why the working class cannot pay the electricity bill," he questioned. "Why can’t they pay the electricity bill and the rent? Or why can’t they pay the electricity bill, the rent, and the grocery bill?", he added.
The general secretary of UGT Aragón has said that speculation has spread beyond the housing market. "It’s no longer the real estate sector that we said was speculative, that it is. It’s that the energy sector is also speculative, because it is. And the food distribution sector of large retailers too," he stated.
Along these lines, he mentioned the benefits of the oil companies to argue that there is room to contain prices and improve working conditions. "There is room for improvement; there is room to not have to raise prices," he defended. Likewise, he called for the increase in food prices not to fall on workers in the primary sector.
The strike, the start of a new union phase
Beyond the rally, Arceiz interpreted this Wednesday’s day as the start of new union initiatives. "It’s the last event, as I say, of the day, but it is the first of the rest of the days that we are going to have to put all the issues that we have on our own banner and that have been the key points for the mobilization of today on the negotiation tables," he advanced.
The head of UGT emphasized that both organizations will remain present in the spaces for dialogue and cited as an example that the employers’ association in the meat sector made contact during the day with the strike committee to discuss the collective agreement, after three days of work stoppages in the sector with follow-ups close to one hundred percent, according to its figures.
"We’re not here for one day, we’re here for all the days," he insisted. In his view, labor conflicts and the blocking of collective bargaining make it necessary to keep pressure in order to reach agreements.
In this context, he revealed that the national agreement on employment and collective bargaining continues to be stalled by the employers and specified that the proposal from CCOO and UGT included measures linked to access to housing.
Among them, he cited that part of the wage increases should take into account the evolution of purchase and rental prices, which, he pointed out, are moving at a different pace than wages.
Unions demand monitoring of the strike
Manuel Pina has given a positive assessment of the strike’s follow-through and has questioned the data circulated by the Government of Aragon on participation in public services, understanding that they did not take into account minimum services. "When in a hospital all emergencies are on standby, one hundred percent of emergencies are on standby, of course, if the figures that they are working with, I think, is to do a little trick," he pointed out.
The leader of CCOO added that, once those essential services were deducted, the rest of the hospital staff would have supported the strike in a percentage which, according to his estimates, was around 60 percent. He also said that the call managed to halt numerous production processes.
Lastly, when asked about political criticisms of the strike and its possible impact on social dialogue in Aragon, Pina showed his confidence that relations between the regional Executive, the employers’ association, and the trade union organizations will continue to develop normally.
"Collective bargaining in Aragon, social dialogue in Aragon is a very important thing for the Government, for the employers’ association, and for the unions, in short for the citizens of Aragon," he concluded.