Spain's First General Strike in 14 Years Cuts Power Use 7.5%

Spanish electricity demand fell 7.5% in the early hours of Wednesday, according to grid operator Red Eléctrica, as the country held its first general strike in 14 years. The main unions called the stoppage over housing costs and the high price of living, three weeks before parliamentary elections on 29 November.

Transport and other public services faced serious disruption across Spain. Traffic halted on several main roads in Madrid and Catalonia, the country's main industrial hubs. The interior ministry said dozens of people were arrested for a variety of incidents, and Spanish media reported attacks on estate agency offices. Demonstrations were planned for later in the day, with the biggest protests expected in Madrid and Barcelona.

Who says the strike worked?

Pepe Álvarez, head of the UGT labour union, declared the strike a success with "massive" participation. Unai Sordo of the CC OO union said turnout was "very significant." The Spanish Confederation of Business Organisations disagreed. It described participation as "low and uneven", depending on the areas and sectors involved.

The power data offers a harder measure. Demand fell 7.5% in the early hours of Wednesday. During the last general strike 14 years ago, consumption dropped by more than 15%. That strike, in 2012, took place under the conservative government of Mariano Rajoy.

What triggered it?

The strike grew out of widespread protests over affordable housing and rising living costs. The spark was the eviction of 87-year-old Maricarmen Abascal from a Madrid flat where she had lived for seven decades. She died in hospital weeks later. Her new landlords had tripled her rent.

Rental prices in the capital show the pressure. A 50-square-metre apartment in Madrid cost an average of €1,170 per month in October, according to property portal Idealista. Spain's average gross monthly salary is about €2,460. Rent therefore absorbs nearly half the average gross salary, well above the 30% affordability threshold recommended by housing experts and public institutions.

Gonzalo Álvarez, 27, a sales worker who volunteers for a housing union protecting tenants, visited picket lines in central Madrid. He knew Abascal and said her eviction at the end of September "was the little fire" that sparked the protest. He rents a one-bedroom flat with his girlfriend, a dental hygienist, in the southern Arganzuela district. The couple pay €1,000 between them, so each spends about half their salary on housing before other bills.

"It's absolutely crazy… with the food, with the electricity, with the water, with gas," he told the BBC. He sees no route to ownership: "You have to collect an insane amount of money to be able to buy a house. So with these salaries, it's impossible."

Why is this strike politically unusual?

Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez called snap elections last month after parliament rejected his housing reform plan. Unlike previous general strikes, this one has government backing. Sánchez and his ministers have encouraged workers to down tools and demand affordable housing.

"Your eight-hour day. Your pension. Your public healthcare… These were collective conquests," Sánchez wrote on social media, praising those who took part in previous strikes. He told Spanish TV this week: "What is nonsense is to question the rights of workers to strike."

The conservative People's Party sees electoral manoeuvring. PP leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo called the general strike "nonsense" and labelled the unions "mafia" and "trash". Party spokesman Miguel Tellado accused the government of exploiting the strike to warn voters against a right-wing government, which polls suggest is the most likely outcome on 29 November. The PP leads the polls.

Business also pushed back. Miguel Garrido, vice-president of the CEOE, Spain's biggest business association, complained that businesses had little to do with housing prices. "This is not a strike for labour-related reasons, but rather for political ones, and it is closely linked to the early calling of elections," he said.

The scale of Wednesday's demonstrations will be widely read as a measure of public discontent. With the election three weeks away, both camps will now parse the turnout figures — and the electricity data — for evidence of which way Spain is leaning.