Leadership1 publisher2 min readPublished
Spain's rejected housing package pushes protesters toward calls for a general strike
Madrid crowds called for a general strike as tens of thousands marched a day after Spain's parliament rejected emergency housing measures. For employers with staff in Spain, the strike is still a demand from the street, while the rent pressure behind it has been building for a decade.
The Board Room · Leadership desk
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What happened
- In Valencia, police used tear gas and rubber bullets on protesters who broke through the security perimeter of a real estate summit at the City of Arts and Sciences.
- About 1,000 people have camped in Madrid's Puerta del Sol for a week since 87-year-old Maria del Carmen Abascal was evicted from her home of seven decades on Sept. 23.
- Average rent in Spain rose from 8.20 euros per square metre in 2016 to 15.10 euros this year, according to the property website Idealista.
- Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez faces a national election next year, and the defeat has fed rumours he could call one early to rally the left on housing.
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Why it matters
- decision For now, money spent on strike contingency at Spanish sites would be spent against a slogan. That decision changes once a union formally calls a stoppage and sets a date.
- exposure Property-industry gatherings in Spanish cities are now protest targets. Firms that host or sponsor them, or send staff to them, face security costs and cancellation risk.
- constraint The state package is blocked and Spain has almost no public rental stock to absorb demand, so staff who rent have no policy relief in prospect within a planning year.
- precedent A housing allowance granted to Spanish staff this quarter is likely to become a fixed expectation in next year's pay round.
The fair objection to treating this weekend as a business-continuity event is that a chant at a march is not a strike notice. On the evidence so far, that objection holds. The general-strike call came from crowds marching in Madrid [2], and the report does not name a union behind it or a date for a stoppage.
The disruption the record does document is local and aimed at the property sector. Protesters in Valencia went for a real estate summit [3]. The Madrid camp has held for a week, and a second has formed in Barcelona [5][6]. The protests have also continued past the case that started them. The company that evicted Abascal agreed to let her return to the apartment, her lawyer said [15]. Protesters still carry signs reading "Not even one more Maricarmen!" [16]. "I haven't managed to defend my home, but I have fought so that others can learn to fight for what's theirs," Abascal said in a video recorded from her hospital bed [14].
The workforce exposure is in the rent data, and it builds over years. Idealista's figures put the rise in average rent per square metre since 2016 at about 84% [1]. The government says 26% of Spanish renters spend an average of 40% of their income on rent and utilities. Across the EU the share is 18% [11], so Spain is eight percentage points higher [3]. Government-owned rentals make up less than 2% of Spain's stock, under a quarter of the EU average of 8% [12][2]. The young and the poorest are hit hardest. They cannot afford to buy, and they compete for a small pool of rentals [13].
For an employer, the trade-off is between paying for that pressure now and absorbing turnover among renting staff later. In my view the near-term options belong to the employer: pay, housing allowances and relocation terms. The state measures that might have eased the pressure would have restricted evictions, curbed property speculation and given renters indefinite leases [7]. Conservative opposition parties joined forces to reject their ratification in parliament on Friday [8].
What to watch
- A Spanish union or union federation formally calling a general strike and setting a date for it.
- Whether the Sanchez government brings back the eviction and lease measures, or calls an early election fought on housing.
- Whether the Puerta del Sol and Plaza Catalunya camps hold, or spread to other cities.