On Strike for a Different Spain

Workers across Spain staged the country's first general strike in 14 years on November 11, 2026, with housing costs at the center of protest. Reuters reported that workers joined the action in anger over housing, while Bloomberg.com described the main unions as holding a nationwide strike over housing costs.

The strike comes as demonstrators have clashed with police ahead of the election campaign, CNBC reported. The US Embassy in Spain issued an alert titled "General Strike in Spain on November 11, 2026," and Fox News reported an urgent travel alert warning that the nationwide strike threatens widespread disruption and delays.

Al Jazeera's coverage of the protests in Spain included individual accounts from people joining the action. Ignacio Redrado, a 32-year-old teacher, could only afford to leave home when he was 26, earns $2,245 and pays $337 in rent per month. He lives in a cramped Madrid flat and is involved in the campaign to resolve the housing crisis. Al Jazeera also cited the average age for leaving home in Spain as 30 years old.

Other protesters described insecure housing. Bea Garcia de la Torre, 32, who works for a foundation in Madrid, shares a 70sq-metre (753sq-foot) flat with her brother. She is joining the general strike on November 11 to protest against the housing crisis and said: "We are worried our landlord might kick us out." Iratxe Gonzalez, 27, a social worker, shares a flat in Madrid with three other people and said: "The landlord could push up the rent or just get rid of us."

The wider political backdrop includes Catalonia, which faces a week of strikes on the eve of the election campaign, according to Catalan News. AP News, Dallas News and The Seattle Times carried a report describing how Spain's first general strike in 14 years brings clashing social and political desires to the fore. Euronews.com separately examined which European country loses the most money when workers strike.

Al Jazeera also reported that Spain braces for the nationwide strike as anger over housing and costs boils over. The US Embassy alert and Fox News travel warning indicate that disruption and delays were expected, though the sources provided do not detail the scale of cancellations or the length of the disruption.