On November 11, 2026, Spain will experience a 24-hour general strike driven by the housing crisis, the eleventh in democracy. Only ten previous calls have met those conditions.
On November 11, 2026, a 24-hour general strike is called in Spain across all sectors and throughout the territory. The mobilization, driven by the Tenants' Union, comes after protests over the housing crisis that spread across the country following the eviction of Maricarmen, who passed away in hospital, as reported by RTVE.
This will be the eleventh general strike of its kind in the history of Spanish democracy. Trade unions are demanding higher wages, reduced working hours, improved worker health, and the eradication of precariousness, although housing prices and opposition to real estate speculation are at the centre of social debate.
The first general strike of democracy took place on June 20, 1985, seven years after the right was enshrined in the Constitution. It was called by CCOO against the reform of Social Security that extended the years of contributions required to receive a pension. UGT did not support it, but other unions such as USO, CNT, the Basque ELA, and the Galician Intersindical did. The Minister of Economy and Finance, Miguel Boyer, resigned two weeks later, although his departure was not directly linked to the protests.
The most supported mobilization occurred on December 14, 1988, called by CCOO and UGT against the economic policies of the government of Felipe González. The then General Secretary of UGT, Nicolás Redondo, had been a socialist deputy until two years prior, when he resigned his seat due to insufficient allocations for pensions and civil servant salaries in the Budget.
"The general strike paralysed Spain yesterday"
That was the headline published by El País the following day. Despite the strike, González reaffirmed his absolute majority in the 1989 elections and governed in minority from 1993.
Before that fourth term, on May 28, 1992, CCOO and UGT called a half-day general strike against the unemployment reform decree, which cut the amount of benefits and extended the minimum requirements to access them. The government justified the regulation by the "financial imbalance" of the system and framed it within its Convergence Plan to comply with the Maastricht Treaty and enter the euro.
In González's last term, on January 27, 1994, CCOO and UGT called the last general strike against his economic and social policy. CCOO recalls it with participation similar to or greater than that of 14D in 1988, but with greater media and political pressure against the unions. El País stated at the time that the strike had "fallen short" due to low participation in rural areas and some services.
With José María Aznar in La Moncloa, on June 20, 2002, CCOO and UGT again called a general strike against the labour and unemployment reform. The regulation required unemployed people for more than a year to accept any job within 30 kilometres or two hours of travel, and made wrongful dismissal cheaper by exempting companies from paying wages from the date of dismissal until the court ruling. A month later, Aznar dismissed the Minister of Labour, Juan Carlos Aparicio. Five years later, the regulation was declared unconstitutional.
In addition to the ten 24-hour general strikes, there has been a half-day strike and several shorter strikes for political reasons: in 1981, against the attempted coup d'état of 23F, and in 1991, against the Gulf War. The last general strike, a year ago, was held for the genocide in Palestine.
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