A demonstration promoted by UGT and CCOO within the framework of the general strike has, this Wednesday afternoon, toured the center of Pamplona to demand “affordable” housing and “dignified” wages. According to data provided by the Delegation of the Government in Navarra, nearly 3,000 people took part in the protest.
The march began just after 17.30 hours from the headquarters of the two unions, led by a large banner with the slogan 'Wages. Housing. Prices'. During the route, posters were displayed with slogans such as “Working to live, not living to work” or “No one commands if we all disobey,” and chants were shouted such as “The struggle is the only path,” “General strike” or “If we stop, the system collapses,” among others.
At the mobilization were present the general secretary of UGT Navarra, Lorenzo Ríos, and the general secretary of CCOO Navarra, Josema Romeo. Speaking to the media, Ríos assured that the general strike “has been a success in Navarra.”
“We are very satisfied with the participation,” Ríos said, who emphasized that “Navarre society has said clearly” that “it can’t be that” workers “keep losing purchasing power while the cost of living rises.” “And it can’t be that the wage is meant to survive; it has to be for living. We need affordable housing; we need dignified wages; and we need to put on the table a structural plan to build affordable housing, both of publicly protected official housing under a rental system, and for purchase,” he stated.
In his view, “it can’t be that we keep losing purchasing power with inflation of 4.5% and collective agreements blocked.” “Today, Navarre society has said clearly that we’ve come to this point and that we have to give solutions, that this can’t be delayed any longer and that there have to be solutions and alternatives for the workers of Navarra,” he pointed out.
Regarding the strike’s follow-up, Ríos indicated that “in strategic sectors like the auto industry” it was around 85%-90%. He added that, although in public services minimum services were applied, “there has also been significant follow-up of the strike in health and in healthcare.” He likewise highlighted that in the services sector “there have been many workers who went out into the street,” and he insisted that “there has been good follow-up.”
Questioned about the role of the Government of Navarre, he has said that it is "one of the governments that has developed more policies related to housing," but he has warned that "if we have a public offer" of around 800 homes compared to "a demand of 26,000, evidently everything that is done is insufficient." "And therefore, we believe that the Government of Navarre what it has to do is a brazen policy of putting affordable housing that workers can buy," he said.
On wage matters, he has denounced that salaries "are blocked with all the intention of the employers' association" and has recalled that there exists "a convention of conventions, which is the National Agreement on Collective Bargaining, that they have it blocked." "What cannot be is that inflation is at 4.9% and salaries are frozen. They are doing this with intention," he criticized.
Josema Romeo has expressed himself in similar terms, who has assured that "we are more than satisfied" with the strike because workers have "taken a step forward." "It has been a resounding success of the working class," he stressed, while also noting that it is "a political message." In this sense, he recalled that in the general elections of November 29 "we have to take a step forward to achieve the three major demands: housing, price control, and wages."
Addressing the employers' association, which "with great profits, more than ever," is "blocking the collective agreements," he warned that "this is a warning." "We are not going to stop until we achieve increases of 7%," he said, emphasizing that the goal is for workers to "be able to pay for housing" and live "dignifiedly."
Asked about the effectiveness of current policies, he said that "they have to be improved, they have to be analyzed." "I don't know if they will be working, it is clear that we have to improve because if there is a request for 5,000 homes, and we have 800, no. But from then on this is work of the whole. And when it comes to voting, we have to vote for the workers and workers' political parties that are for doing this task," he stressed.
Along these lines, he has emphasized that "seeing the demands of the right, getting the Partido Popular involved with pensions, getting involved with wages, getting involved with an illegal strike," it becomes "clear" that "they have to be progressive parties."
On the other hand, he has emphasized that “the SMI has gone up by 70%,” that workers “have managed to keep the pensions, raise them with the CPI, and this is what we have to keep and improve.” “This is a coalition between labor mobilization, between the general strike and social mobilization. Today we are seeing it: families, fathers, mothers, grandparents, grandchildren. For all of them we are here,” he said.
Among others, the protest has been joined by the PSN Secretary of Organization, Ester Iso; the PSN parliamentary spokesperson, Ainhoa Unzu; the PSN spokesperson on the Pamplona City Council, Marina Curiel; the general coordinator of IUN, Carlos Guzmán; and the Frente Amplio Navarra candidates for the Congress and the Senate, Javier Ibáñez and Ane Sánchez, respectively.