Spain roiled by first general strike in 14 years
Spain’s first general strike in 14 years disrupted transport, factories and public services on Wednesday as workers staged a mass walkout and picketers clashed with police. The nationwide strike, called by unions over soaring housing costs and low wages, comes as tensions rise ahead of a snap election on November 29th called by leftwing prime minister Pedro Sánchez . Polls suggest Sánchez will lose power to a coalition of the conservative People’s Party (PP) and the far right. The PP branded the strike as “nonsensical” and a union effort to stir up “pre-emptive” opposition to a rightwing government. Spain’s walkout is the latest sign of mounting social unrest across an increasingly fractured Europe. It follows weeks of mass protests in France and Italy over the cost of living and declining educational standards, some of which have descended into violence and looting. Evicted Spanish pensioner at heart of Spain’s housing protests dies Spanish strikers blocked highways, occupied train stations and formed picket lines outside workplaces, with video footage showing confrontations with police in which officers used batons and pepper spray. The Confederation of Tenants’ Unions, a renters group that helped organise the strike, said 4mn people had participated in the country of 50mn and that at least 25 had been arrested. Before the strike, a survey by pollster Sigma Dos suggested only 20 per cent of workers would take part and business groups on Wednesday said participation was “low”. CCOO, one of the unions behind the strike, said workers had stayed away from morning shifts “in large numbers” in heavily unionised sectors. The union said up to 90 per cent of staff were absent from car factories, ports and meat processing plants. In Barcelona, strikers blocked access to Mercabarna, the city’s wholesale market, and set tyres and pallets alight on access roads. Others accosted staff at shops that remained open and shouted at them to close their doors, according to the Spanish media. Public transport, hospitals and schools were also disrupted, with many providing only essential services on Wednesday. As of noon, 263 flights had been cancelled out of the 4,529 scheduled in Spain on Wednesday, said Aena, the country’s airport operator. CEOE, Spain’s main business lobby, said “participation in the strike appears to be low in most sectors”. The main trade group for bars and restaurants reported “extremely low participation” and said the sector was operating “largely as normal”. Miguel Tellado, secretary-general of the PP, which is leading in the polls, said the strike was an effort by pro-Sánchez unions to bolster the prime minister. “It is clear that this is not a general strike, but an electoral strike,” he said on Telecinco television. While Sánchez, head of the Socialist Party, says he has overseen eight years of social and economic progress in Spain, the PP says he is responsible for institutional decay, failing infrastructure and corruption. The last general strike at the end of 2012 came under a PP government that was implementing painful austerity measures and budget cuts during the Eurozone debt crisis. Sánchez’s government has implicitly backed the strikers. But his former deputy prime minister María Jesús Montero, who leads the Socialists in Andalusia, said “it is not a strike against anyone” but “in defence of workers’ rights”, a message that heightened a sense of uncertainty about the strike’s objectives. The prime minister called the early election in a bid to capitalise on public anger about rising house prices and rents, which boiled over following the eviction of an 87-year-old woman and the scuppering of housing reform legislation by the right. But Sánchez’s critics have accused him of inaction over housing during his time in power, which has also brought multiple corruption scandals. In addition, a train crash that killed 69 people at the end of October has put a spotlight on under-investment in Spain’s infrastructure during his time in office. - Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2026