Spanish unions call Nov 11 general strike over housing, wages

Spain's main unions on Wednesday called a general strike for November 11 with the aim of ratcheting up pressure over housing and wages before a snap general election.

A chronic housing crisis has dominated Spanish politics amid nationwide protests sparked by last month's eviction of Maricarmen Abascal, an 87-year-old Madrid pensioner who died on Wednesday, sparking an outpouring of grief in the capital.

Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's government had presented two decrees last week that included more restrictions on evictions and the automatic renewal of tenant contracts.

But the conservative and far-right opposition voted down the minority government's decrees in parliament, prompting Sanchez to bring forward to November 29 a general election initially scheduled for 2027.

The UGT and CCOO unions urged the population to "mobilise for better salaries, for decent housing and for price controls in the face of inflation that undermines our purchasing power".

The strike "is the response to the insatiable real estate greed that speculates with one of the public's main rights, making access to a decent home practically impossible", they said in a statement.

They also denounced "a corporate policy that takes advantage of the country's economic growth to swell its wealth with large profits at the expense of working people's wages".

Spanish inflation hit 4.9 percent in September -- its highest level since February 2023. The government responded with new gas price caps and fuel discounts to shield consumers.

The main tenants' unions have spearheaded pressure on Spain's political class for weeks to reform a housing market that is out of reach for many Spaniards, young and old.

Hundreds of people have pitched tents in Madrid's emblematic Puerta del Sol square and similar camps are set up in other cities, while tens of thousands have demonstrated nationwide.

The Madrid Tenants' Union, which announced Abascal's death, said her case marked "a turning point in the history of this country".

She used a wheelchair and was escorted from her life-long home on a stretcher, spending her final days in hospital for exhaustion after the eviction.

"All my love to Maricarmen's family and loved ones. A hug too to those of us who today feel this loss as our own," Sanchez said on X.

Protesters in Sol wept, embraced each other and lit candles in memory of Abascal. Hundreds marched to parliament chanting: "the struggle continues, Maricarmen lives", AFP journalists saw.

"Even though she's dead, a struggle has begun that will not stop. It doesn't matter who governs, because they will not stop us," said protester Nora Boumghait, 25, who works in marketing.

Sanchez, who is trailing in most polls, has accused the main conservative Popular Party (PP) and far-right Vox of siding with speculators and large investment funds by downing his housing measures.

The opposition says Sanchez is to blame for not improving the situation during his eight years in office.

On Tuesday, Sanchez presented two new housing decrees that are similar to the unsuccessful ones and may have more chances of approval in a special parliamentary council.