BARCELONA, Spain — Less than three weeks before a national election that could catapult the far right to power, millions of Spain's workers are striking on Wednesday to demand that the government remedy the nation's housing crisis.
The general strike — Spain's first in 14 years — is causing delays in the public transport system and slowing down factories across the eurozone's fourth-largest economy. Many schools and universities reportedly closed or are working at minimal capacity. In the capital, Madrid, this adds to an ongoing strike started by teachers nearly a month ago to demand better working conditions.
In Barcelona, the country's second-largest city, public transport was at a standstill or facing long delays in the morning rush hour. In Madrid, which saw heavy rains in the morning, city buses were the hardest affected. Unions have called for Madrid workers to gather and march through the city center later Wednesday. Marches and gatherings are also planned in Barcelona and other cities.
The two main unions calling for the strike, UGT and CCOO, said in a statement that there was widespread participation, "with significant work stoppages in strategic sectors" — 90% in the automotive and port sectors, 85% in the meat industry, 82% in waste collection, and 75% in the energy sector.
"It's extremely important to remind people that we, the workers — who are also renters or who also pay mortgages — are the ones with the power to halt production and bring the economy to a standstill," Sandra Mora, spokesperson for the Tenants' Union, told the national radio, RNE.
Minor incidents were reported in the first hours of the strike, including roadblocks — some with burning tires — in Barcelona, and scuffles between picketers and police near the country's main wholesale market on Madrid's outskirts.
Earlier, at the stroke of midnight on Wednesday, striking workers set off fireworks as they gathered in public squares in Barcelona.
Workers and activists want more government action on housing
Wednesday's walkout has brought together workers, activists, politicians and ordinary Spaniards around the same interests — accessible housing. The average rent in Spain has almost doubled in the last 10 years, eating into household budgets and angering voters.
"There is one issue that is dividing the country: the struggle to access housing," said Unai Sordo, secretary general of CCOO, on Cadena Ser radio.
Public anger over housing reached a boiling point following the nationally televised eviction of an 87-year-old woman from her home in Madrid last month. The subsequent death of Maricarmen, as the woman became known, caused even more indignation and solidified her as a symbol of Spaniards who feel they pay too much in rent and can't even dream of homeownership.
Housing activists leveraged the uproar over Maricarmen's eviction to call for the general strike. They soon won the backing of the UGT and CCOO unions.
The housing activists want several measures, including the elimination of tourist apartments, a crackdown on real estate speculation and protection for renters in the form of automatic renewals of leases.
The UGT and CCOO unions are demanding more government intervention in the housing market and a new minimum wage agreement through talks with the business owners' association.
Spain's left hopes to put focus back on housing
The nationwide protests over the eviction of Maricarmen propelled Spain's government to push through emergency measures to limit evictions and help tenants, but right-wing parties in the Parliament refused to ratify them on the grounds they would provoke a flight of properties from the rental market.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez responded by doubling down politically and called the election on Oct. 5, hoping to earn four more years in power for his left-wing coalition.
But then came a brutal high-speed train collision — Spain's second deadly rail disaster of the year. That collision, which killed 69 people, has dominated Spanish news and created a drag on Sánchez's campaign just when he had hoped to build momentum.
The strike — with its official slogan "Salaries. Housing. Prices." — is an opportunity for Sánchez's Socialists and the other parties on the Left that he will need to remain in power, analyst Oriol Bartomeus said.
"The Socialists need for the strike to be a success and for there not to be any violence so that the election campaign can swing back to being about housing," Bartomeus, a professor of political science at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, told The Associated Press.
On Thursday, the government will again try to have a reduced interim Parliament ratify the two housing decrees that the full lower chamber rejected last month.
Sánchez posted a long video on social media this week, in which he lauded the prior social policies like the 40-hour work week and national health insurance that were the fruit of the workers' movement and the right to strike.
"It wasn't easy, but they changed Spain," Sánchez said, while warning that right-wing parties would bring austerity and underfunded social services.
Verónica Martínez, spokesperson for Sumar, the junior member of the government, separately said "the Left needs the workers of this country to mobilize. Rights are first won on the streets and then later in the institution."
The right could benefit if the strike turns ugly
The traditional conservative Popular Party and the far-right Vox are against any government intervention in the housing market other than incentivizing construction of new homes.
They also both argue that the unions are trying to help Sánchez stay in office, with months of polling showing voters leaning toward the Right.
"This strike is not a general strike; it is an electoral strike," Popular Party spokesperson Miguel Tellado said Tuesday.
If the strike descends into violence, right-wing parties, which already have joined forces to govern in some Spanish regions, could benefit, Bartomeus said.
Spain, like other European countries, often has peaceful public protests that radical groups take advantage of to clash with police and destroy property.
"The Popular Party and Vox both want the strike to be a flop and to end in scenes of burning dumpsters and shattered shop windows," said Bartomeus, so that the next morning, "they can say, 'This is chaos and we are coming to establish order.'"
Copyright 2026 NPR