Two demonstrations held this Wednesday in Valladolid on the occasion of the general strike of 11N have gone through the city’s main arteries on an afternoon that was soaked with rain, with the aim of reshaping the income structure in Spain in order to deal with the “major inequalities” accumulated in recent years. Among the main concerns, the organizers have pointed to access to housing, both for rent and for ownership, and the sharp rise in prices and the CPI linked to international armed conflicts.
Both marches, scheduled for 19:00, started from the central Acera de Recoletos, led by banners denouncing “landlordism and all its governments,” accompanied by chants such as “¡¿Qué pasa?! ¡¿Qué pasa?! ¡Que no tenemos casa!”, “¡Gobierno progresista, hipócrita y rentista!” or “No toleramos ni un desahucio más”.
The general secretaries of UGT and CCOO in Castilla y León, Óscar Lobo and Ana Fernández de los Muros, respectively, have defended, before joining the mobilization in the capital of the Pisuerga, that the trade unions have estimated participation at 30,000 people, and that this day represents a “first step” to demand improvements in the living conditions of the working class, focusing on wages, housing, and collective bargaining.
In this context, Lobo has highlighted participation despite the heavy rain and has shown his gratitude to those who have supported the strike and the protests. “Today we’re getting soaked literally, and here is the best people in this country and the best people in this Community, getting wet for everyone in order to improve living conditions,” the UGT official has said.
He explained that the protest wants to convey a message of “discontent over wages that don’t reach us and over housing that can’t be acquired,” and he emphasized that the call does not end on this date. “This isn’t a final point today; it’s a starting point,” he stressed, noting that unions have managed to put issues such as salaries, housing, the pensions system, and prices at the center of political debate ahead of the upcoming general elections.
For its part, Fernández de los Muros has highlighted the response to the strike and has asserted the exercise of the constitutional right to strike and freedom of union. The CCOO leader in the Community has stated that "the outcry that is seen here today in the streets despite the rain is for a right to housing" and has called for housing to stop being an asset subject to speculation.
Among the priority demands, Fernández de los Muros has placed workers' ability to make ends meet, the cost of housing and the grocery basket, and the evolution of wages. "Wages are insufficient, the employers have to unblock collective bargaining, distribute wealth and raise wages," she insisted.
The head of CCOO added that the mobilization is also aimed at defending public services, the pension system, and women's rights, and warned that the trade union movement will maintain pressure if the set objectives are not reached. "This is the first one; if we don't achieve our objectives, we will continue," she warned.
Regarding monitoring of the strike, Fernández de los Muros expressed CCOO's "satisfaction" with the response, although she acknowledged that the impact was different depending on the sectors. She also criticized the minimum services set in certain public services, considering that "in some cases they have been very abusive" and that they prevented part of the workforce from exercising their right to strike.
With regard to the 1.52 percent monitoring figure offered by CEOE Castilla y León, Lobo refused to assess the day solely with that indicator and questioned the employers' approach. "We are surprised that what the CEOE has to talk about is its results accounts, its margins and its profits," he pointed out.
Along the same lines, the general secretary of UGT in Castilla y León has called on the employers to place the debate on wages and collective bargaining, reminding that in the Community the average salary is below the national average. "What we want to save is that they sit down to negotiate and that they increase our wages, which is really what we need," he added.
He has also emphasized that the strike must be understood as the start of a broader cycle of mobilization to demand social and labor advances. "A day of strike and of struggle entails sacrifices, renunciations, it is getting wet, literally, and it is also hope," he concluded, while Fernández de los Muros has defended the continuity of trade union struggle to safeguard "the dignity of the working class".
"AGAINST RENTISM AND CAPITALISM"
The spokesperson for the Valladolid Housing Union, Guillermo González, explained this Wednesday, before joining the specific demonstration on housing, that the call seeks to express the working class's rejection of the current model of access to housing and has assured that "the working class of the capital of Valladolid today has decided to stop to say that it can no longer put up with rentism and capitalism."
González has downplayed the strike-tracking figures, after the CEOE placed participation in the Community at 1.52 percent, and has considered that "the follow-up is indifferent."
Along these lines, he has defended that "it is not a failure for the working class to mobilize and demonstrate strength" and has highlighted that the streets of Valladolid and other cities in Castilla y León "have been full of workers who have decided to sacrifice themselves to show that this issue matters."
The spokesperson for the Housing Union explained that with the mobilization the attendees wanted to make clear that "they are concerned about housing and that they have decided to stop and that it is worth stopping for that reason."
He also underlined that the day of protest does not close the cycle of demands and has pointed out that the participants feel tired and fed up with the current system, but that "they are not going to stop."
In this sense, González warned that the mobilization this Wednesday represents "one more step on the way to destroy the rentism and the capitalism that suffocate workers." Against those who question the usefulness of the strike, he has defended that "mobilization clearly makes sense, because it is the working class that is claiming what is theirs and demonstrates that it is willing to lose a large part of its salary for what matters to it."