Spanish workers launch general strike over soaring housing costs

Workers across nearly all industries in Spain started a nationwide general strike on Wednesday, marching and setting up picket lines despite stormy weather in many regions, DW reported. Bloomberg.com and teleSUR English both reported that the strike was called by Spain's main labor unions over housing costs. [1][2][3]

DW reported that this is the first general strike in Spain in 14 years. As FTMQ News reported earlier, the country's two largest labor unions, CCOO and UGT, called for a joint 24-hour strike ahead of the snap election. DW noted that the action comes amid a worsening cost of living and a lack of housing that has left many people unable to support themselves. [1][7]

Public discontent mounted following the eviction on 23 September 2026 of 87-year-old María del Carmen Maricarmen Abascal, which brought the affordable housing crisis back into focus. Anger had already been building over a scandal involving the purchase of a luxury penthouse by Madrid premier Isabel Díaz Ayuso and the suicide of an evicted woman in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat earlier that month. Protesters established a camp at Puerta del Sol square in Madrid on 26 September. [4]

As FTMQ News reported earlier, Abascal was forcibly evicted on a stretcher from her Madrid home of more than 70 years after she could not pay steep rent increases, and she later died. DW reported that her eviction and death symbolized the ongoing crisis. [1][8]

The housing crunch has become the primary political debate leading up to Spain's snap general election scheduled for 29 November, according to DW. The government is led by a left-wing prime minister. [1]