Workers across Spain stage first general strike in 14 years as anger rages over housing

By David Latona

MADRID, Nov 11 (Reuters) - Spanish workers went on a general strike on Wednesday, enduring stormy weather to set up picket lines in a mass protest against the country's housing affordability crisis less than three weeks before a snap general election. 

It is the first general strike since workers downed tools in 2012 against austerity measures during the euro zone debt crisis. The walkout is backed by Spain's two largest unions, UGT and CCOO, representing more than a million workers, as well as tenants' associations angry about rising rents and evictions. 

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez hopes to harness voter resentment over housing in the November 29 election to shift the political narrative away from corruption cases involving his inner circle and a deadly train crash last month. So far, his Socialist Party still trails in opinion polls.

Unions described the strike as a success even though participation was uneven across Spain, with the strongest support in coastal regions where housing pressures have been particularly acute.

SHOPS SHUTTERED

On Madrid's Gran Via, one of the capital's main shopping streets, stores including Primark, H&M and Pull & Bear drew their shutters amid a heavy riot police presence as protesters chanted: "We're going to close the Mango store."

Many shops in Barcelona were also closed and boarded up in anticipation of unrest. 

Spain has a deficit of about 750,000 homes, which is set to grow to more than a million by 2028, according to the central bank.

With fewer people able to afford a home, renting has increased sharply, putting pressure on that market. The average rental price of €1,176 ($1,315) is equivalent to about 98.7% of a young person's average monthly salary in Spain, according to the Youth Council of Spain.

"I’m 36 years old and I still can’t move out on my own," said Madrid resident Jesus Gonzalez, who works in a hospital IT department and supports the strike. "Rents just keep going up, house prices just keep going up, and it’s simply impossible."

TURNOUT STRONGEST AT PORTS, AUTO PLANTS

Angela de Miguel, vice president of Spain's main business lobby CEOE, said the strike was counterproductive because small businesses were also affected by the housing crisis, since shortages of homes made recruitment more challenging.

Speaking on state broadcaster TVE, she said the solution was to build more homes and to lower taxes in construction and the home-buying process, which she said had helped increase the final price of buying a new home by 40% in the past decade.

Plans for massive protest marches in the afternoon were threatened by two storms, dubbed Charles and Bruna, that led weather agency AEMET to issue alerts for 14 regions over strong winds, rough seas and heavy rains. 

According to UGT and CCOO, early participation in the strike reached 90% at ports and in the automotive sector, with "total stoppages" reported at factories including Volkswagen's in Navarre and SEAT's in Barcelona. 

They pointed to a 10% drop in electricity demand as an indication of disruption across energy-intensive industries, saying much of the petrochemical, steel-processing, food-processing and transport sectors had halted activity.

CEOE said the drop in power demand was less than the 14% experienced in the last general strike.

LESS IMPACT DUE TO REMOTE WORKING

With more people able to work remotely and the increasing weight of services in Spain’s economy, the impact of the strike is likely to be less pronounced than in previous years, according to Miguel Cardoso, chief economist at BBVA Research. He estimated that the strike could shave 0.1%-0.2% off Spain’s annual gross domestic product.

Barcelona's metro said no trains would run outside peak commuting hours, while Madrid's metro said it had reduced its service by 50% during most of the day but would increase circulation to 80% of normal service during peak hours. Peak-hour usage was down 42% compared to the same period last week, Madrid Metro said.

The CCOO union said on X that police fired pepper spray at pickets at Madrid's Mercamadrid wholesale market and arrested one of them, with 13 people requiring medical attention. 

A police spokesperson confirmed the arrest but not the use of pepper spray, although he said it was used to disperse a separate picket line in the Carabanchel district.

Unions said they would file a criminal complaint against what they described as a “disproportionate” response during a police operation involving tear gas and batons that left 20 protesters injured.

The strike follows weeks of demonstrations provoked by the eviction and subsequent death of an 87-year-old woman in Madrid.

Those protests, along with parliament's rejection last month of government decrees aimed at curbing evictions and limiting rent pressures, prompted Sanchez to call the snap election.

(Reporting by David Latona, Andrei Khalip, Emma Pinedo and Mireia Merino; Writing by Charlie Devereux; Editing by Peter Wilkinson, Kate Mayberry and Toby Chopra)