Spanish unions call general strike over housing before snap election

The general strike is the first to be jointly backed by Spain’s two largest unions ‌in 14 years.Trade unions in Spain have announced a nationwide general ⁠strike over housing issues for November 11, a few weeks before a snap election in which rising rents and evictions have become major campaign ⁠topics.The country’s two largest unions, the Workers’ General Union (UGT) and Workers’ Commissions (CCOO), said the planned date still needs to be ratified by other unions in a meeting later on Wednesday. It will be the first general strike jointly backed by Spain’s two largest unions ‌in 14 years.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Spain protests: Evicted 87-year-old woman to return to Madrid homelist 2 of 3Is Spain’s anti-eviction decree a fix for its housing crisis?list 3 of 3Spain’s parliament rejects gov’t housing decrees amid mass protestsend of list“We cannot ignore the fact that housing is where most of our wages go. What is the point of raising ‌the ‌minimum wage if housing costs are rising three, four or five times faster?” Madrid-tenants-union" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="214728" data-entity-type="organization">Madrid Tenants’ Union spokesperson Valeria Racu said.Spain has a deficit of about 750,000 homes, which is set to grow ⁠to more than a million by 2028, according to ⁠the Spain" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="193988" data-entity-type="organization">Bank of Spain. The average rental price of 1,176 euros ($1,315) is equivalent to about 98.7 percent of a young person’s average monthly salary ‌in Spain, Spain" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="214861" data-entity-type="organization">Youth Council of Spain figures show.MaricarmenThe strike was announced following weeks of demonstrations set off by the eviction in Madrid of 87-year-old Maria del Carmen Abascal, known across Spain as Maricarmen, who became the symbol of a mounting housing crisis. An international investment fund bought her building and raised her rent by more than 200 percent to roughly $1,880 a month, a move aimed at pushing out the long-term tenant to make way for lucrative tourist apartments.