Spain Hit by General Strike as Cost of Living Takes Center Stage Ahead of Elections

By Mauro Orru

BARCELONA--Demonstrators took to the streets of major cities across Spain in the country's first general strike in more than a decade, calling for measures to tackle the rising cost of living weeks before voters head to the polls.

Video footage from public broadcaster RTVE showed protesters blockading roads, setting tires alight and clashing with police in the early hours of Wednesday. Spain's largest trade unions, CCOO and UGT, said workers from across the economy had responded to calls to walk out and demand that the government take action to improve wages and access to housing.

In posts on X, unions said the strike was causing disruption to ports such as Algeciras and paralyzing metro services in Barcelona. Grupo TMB, which manages the Barcelona metro and bus network, said it was suspending all services until the early afternoon. While demonstrations are already unfolding around the country, unions have called for a wider mobilization in major cities Wednesday evening.

The demonstrations are part of the first general strike backed by the largest trade unions in Spain since November 2012, when people took to the streets to protest against austerity measures that many European governments were introducing to bring public spending under control in the aftermath of the financial crisis.

Wednesday's strike caps weeks of protests that have gained momentum since September's televised eviction of an elderly Madrid resident who couldn't afford rent increases. Access to housing and the cost of living have emerged as the driving forces behind protests gripping much of Europe this fall.

In France, what began as weeks of student-led protests over conditions in the country's schools morphed into a broader movement that drew people of all ages protesting the rising cost of living.

Many of those demonstrations turned violent, with rioters rampaging through cities and authorities reporting episodes of vandalism, arson, looting and damage to stores. Riots also broke out in Italy, Germany and other European countries.

In Spain, the strike comes at a particularly delicate time for Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, the leader of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party, with voters heading to the polls on Nov. 29. Sanchez, who has been in power for about eight years and has led a left-wing minority government since 2023, last month called for snap elections after measures he had proposed to increase protections for tenants were rejected.

Adding to pressure on the administration, a collision between two trains last month killed dozens in one of Spain's deadliest rail disasters and the second this year, later prompting the resignation of Sanchez's transportation minister and sparking calls from the opposition led by People's Party leader Alberto Nunez Feijoo for a major overhaul of Spain's rail infrastructure.

Feijoo is hoping to capitalize on his rival's woes, including the mass crossing of tens of thousands of migrants who streamed into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta from neighboring Morocco this summer. Sanchez, meanwhile, is betting that he can turn a housing crisis--and anger at the opposition for blocking legislation to ease it--into stronger support for his socialist party.

Write to Mauro Orru at mauro.orru@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 11, 2026 06:19 ET (11:19 GMT)