El Sindicato de Inquilinas llama a la huelga general por la vivienda “para que no haya una Maricarmen más”

At around 21:00 on Wednesday, the Ateneo La Maliciosa in Madrid was filled with unionists and activists advocating for the right to housing. They embraced, cried, and dabbed their tears. Shortly before the press conference organized by the Workers' Union of Tenants, reports emerged of the death of Maricarmen, the 87-year-old woman who had sparked the housing crisis struggle in Spain.

The outrage over her eviction and the subsequent rejection of housing decrees by the majority of right-wing lawmakers in Congress led to demonstrations with the main slogan: “Toward a general strike.” The Workers' Union of Tenants, along with representatives from CGT, Solidarity Obrera, and CO.BAS, confirmed the strike for November 11 and upheld Maricarmen's legacy.

The strike also received the support of CCOO and UGT, which distributed a statement at day's end but didn't participate in the press conference. Alicia del Río, spokesperson for the Confederation of Inquilinas Unions, the collective that has mobilized mass protests over the housing crisis, said, “It's clear we need to start with words to our comrade Maricarmen.

Speculation and rent gouging kill.” Del Río added, “Speculation costs us our lives. Maricarmen's memory stays with us and makes us fight with even greater force.” Regarding the strike, Del Río called on people moved by Maricarmen's eviction to ensure “no more Maricarmens.” “The price of housing,” Del Río emphasized, “is rising rapidly while wages are stagnant.

It's the main factor in impoverishing the population. There's no choice but to increase pressure.” The general strike on November 11 is the first supported by majority unions in 14 years. It also receives backing from Basque unions LAB and ELA, Galician unions CIG and CUT, and CFTT, USO, or Fetico officials have already expressed their opposition.

The general strike will take place just two days before the beginning of the electoral campaign on November 29. At the press conference, CGT Secretary General Miguel Fadrique, who has long supported the general strike when asked by the Workers' Union of Tenants, stated, “This general strike is urgent and cannot be delayed any longer.”

He added, “Even under the so-called progressive government, many evictions continue to happen. I don't know what that progressive label hides.” Andrea Zayas of CO.BAS' state direction and Álvaro Ferreira, Solidarity Obrera's social action secretary also spoke at the press conference. In a statement released shortly before the press conference, CCOO and UGT said, “The general strike of November 11 is the response to the insatiable greed of real estate speculators who make a prized citizenship right virtually impossible, effectively denying access to most to a decent home.”

“CCOO and UGT call on the men and women of our country to mobilize for better wages, decent housing, and price controls amid an inflation that suffocates our purchasing power,” they added. Other unions, such as Galician CIG, also backed the November 11 strike. “We want to live with dignity to face the current social emergency, where the unrelenting rise in prices and housing access difficulties are impoverishing the working class and making a decent life impossible for the majority,” the Galician union said in a statement released Wednesday.

Basque LAB echoed similar sentiments, stating, “In Euskal Herria, thousands of citizens are denied access to housing. We are in the midst of an emergency, and there are objective and subjective conditions in Euskal Herria to give a new boost to the fight for structural changes.”