More than 2,500 company committees have already joined the general strike called for November 11, while around 2,000 delegates from UGT and CCOO participated this Monday in an assembly in Getafe (Madrid) to organize the day of stoppage. The protest, as explained by the labor organizations, aims to serve as a lever to demand answers to the housing crisis, improvements in working conditions, and a fairer distribution of the wealth generated in the country.
Before the start of the event, the general secretary of UGT, Pepe Álvarez, confirmed that more than 2,500 company committees already support the call and emphasized that now it is time to explain in the workplaces the reasons that lead the unions to promote the strike.
Álvarez indicated that the housing problem is the main trigger for the mobilization, although he insisted that other reasons are also added, such as the open conflicts in multiple sectors over the renewal of their collective agreements.
In this regard, he criticized that the Spanish Confederation of Business Organizations (CEOE) has been unwilling to negotiate the agreement on employment and collective bargaining for more than a year, a framework that, as he recalled, must set the guidelines for collective bargaining in Spain.
The leader of UGT defended that the strike should also serve to bring to the table issues such as the pension system, sick leave, and the distribution of wealth. "We want to talk about the distribution of wealth, which in our country is being taken by a few," he stated.
For his part, the general secretary of CCOO, Unai Sordo, demanded that business profits be transferred to salaries and advocated for wage increases of between 4% and 7% in collective agreements. In addition, he reiterated that the trade unions will demand a 7% increase in the interprofessional minimum wage (SMI) for 2027.
Sordo explained that, for now, the unions have not opened conversations or negotiations with the Government regarding the minimum wage and insisted that the commitments related to the absorption and compensation of salary supplements be fulfilled.
In parallel, Álvarez urged the Government to approve the royal decree on time control in order to eradicate unpaid overtime. He pointed out that in Spain more than three million unpaid overtime hours are worked each week.
Support for small businesses and self-employed workers
Sordo has also directed a message to small merchants, hoteliers, and self-employed workers to join the mobilization, warning that the increase in commercial rents is putting the continuity of many businesses at risk.
The general secretary of CCOO has estimated a 18.6% increase in commercial rents in just three years and has emphasized that numerous small establishments are facing closure due to the cost of leases and not because of increases in the SMI. He has also pointed to the liberalization of commercial hours as another factor that makes it difficult to compete with large retail chains.
Condemnation of looting acts in Barcelona
In relation to the incidents recorded in Barcelona, Sordo has requested an investigation into who is behind the calls disseminated on social networks that have ended in episodes of "looting and vandalism" in the city. The leader of CCOO has outright rejected these behaviors and has indicated that the union organizations will analyze what happened when they have more data.
Álvarez, for his part, has pointed out that social dissatisfaction, uncertainty regarding artificial intelligence, and the absence of solid social policies could be fueling the discontent of a part of the youth.