The mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez-Almeida (PP), has criticized the silence that, in his opinion, the unions have maintained during the eight years of Pedro Sánchez's governments, to now promote a general strike that, he has denounced, is directed "against the opposition" and promoted by organizations that "are really political parties."
From Valdecarros, the mayor has pointed out that "I believe that what the unions should make clear is that more than unions, they are really political parties in the context of the electoral pre-campaign, because what they are doing is a political instrumentalization of a demand that is legitimate given that there is obviously a question of wage precariousness."
The 'popular' leader has focused on the loss of purchasing power of workers and has asked to keep in mind "that workers had a 20 euro bill in their pocket in 2018 and now they have one of 15." He then insisted that "obviously there is labor precariousness, it is worse than it was 8 years ago but what we need to ask workers in Spain is did you live better 8 years ago or do you live better now with a 15 euro bill?".
Martínez-Almeida has reproached the union centers that "they have been silent for eight years and have now decided, in the middle of an electoral pre-campaign, that it is time to call for a general strike." In this line, he has recalled that "as far as I remember, general strikes are made against a government. Are the unions going to go against Sánchez's government or are they going to do it against the opposition? Because I do not remember a general strike that goes against the opposition instead of against the government."
In this context, the mayor has demanded transparency from the union organizations and has urged them to explain straightforwardly "clearly against whom this strike is going and, in the case that it goes against the opposition, that they articulate themselves as political options and not as union representation."
Almeida has also added "that the connection of this strike has a direct relationship with housing but, as they cannot do a strike for housing, they have to create the fiction that they are doing it for wage precariousness," pointing out that "they themselves know that they are not telling the truth."
To conclude, the Madrid councilor has insisted that "it is a political strike, it is a strike that for the first time goes against the opposition and not against the government and all I ask of the unions is that they have the honesty to acknowledge it to the citizens."