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On Wednesday 11 November 2026, Spain stopped. In the country's first general strike in 14 years, millions of workers walked out — not over a pay deal, but over a place to live. The slogan on the streets said it plainly: "Salaries. Housing. Prices." This is a strike about a housing crisis that has turned an ordinary flat into a luxury good.
Who called the strike, and what do they want?
According to reports from Reuters and the Associated Press, the 24-hour strike was jointly backed by Spain's two largest unions, the UGT and the CCOO, along with other labour organisations and tenants' associations. Eight unions registered the strike notice with the Labour Ministry. The last general strike was on 14 November 2012, against austerity cuts under Mariano Rajoy.
The demands go well beyond a pay rise. The unions and tenants' groups want action on housing speculation, rent controls, automatic renewal of leases and indefinite contracts, an end to evictions of vulnerable people, an end to tourist apartments, and a crackdown on real-estate speculation — alongside higher wages, a shorter working week and better protection for workers' health. The CCOO and UGT are seeking a minimum-wage rise of 7% for 2027, from €1,221 to about €1,306 a month in 14 payments.
Why housing, and why now?
The numbers explain the anger. Spain has a housing deficit of about 750,000 homes, which the Bank of Spain projects will exceed one million by 2028. Average rent is now €1,176 a month — roughly 99% of a young person's average monthly salary, according to the Youth Council of Spain. Rents have risen 44% since 2021 while wages rose only 22%, and house prices were up 12.2% year on year in the second quarter of 2026. There were 4,005 evictions in the first quarter of 2026 alone.
The trigger was a single eviction that became a symbol. On 23 September, 87-year-old Maricarmen Abascal was evicted from her home in Madrid's Retiro district; she later died in hospital. Housing activists won union backing after mass protests, and the campaign snowballed into a general strike.
How big was it — and what happens next?
Wire services reported millions of workers taking part. Unions reported 90% participation at ports and in the automotive sector, with ports, car plants and other strategic sectors shut, public transport delayed and more than 150 pickets and rallies held. No official nationwide turnout figure has been published, so the true scale will only become clear in the coming days.
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez defended the right to strike, and Labour Minister Yolanda Díaz encouraged participation. His government had tried emergency decrees — suspending evictions until 2030, a 2% rent cap through the end of 2027, indefinite contracts and €10 billion in help-to-buy support — but Congress rejected the full package in October, and the reissued decrees face a ratification vote on Thursday 12 November, lapsing on 13 November if they fail. Sánchez has called a snap general election for 29 November, hoping to fight it on housing; opposition leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo called a strike against the opposition "an absurdity". Whatever the vote brings, the strike has already done one thing: it has made Spain's housing crisis impossible to ignore. Read more about how protest movements are reshaping politics in why Russia's last independent newspaper closed and the US court case that could summon India's NSA, and about governments preparing for hard times in why governments are telling people to stockpile food. Sources: Reuters, Associated Press.