Spanish and Portuguese Unions Negotiate Historic ‘Iberian General Strike’

Portuguese and Spanish trade unions are coordinating efforts to potentially stage an “Iberian general strike,” according to Unai Sordo, secretary-general of the CCOO (Comisiones Obreras), speaking Thursday on the programme “Los Desayunos” produced by Spanish broadcaster RTVE and the EFE news agency.

Sordo revealed that Portuguese unions are contemplating a general strike on 11 November, a date already slated for a major stoppage in Spain organized by the country’s two primary union confederations, CCOO and UGT.

The objective, Sordo explained, is to materialize an “Iberian general strike,” though he emphasized that the initiative hinges on the decision of Portuguese labour organizations. “It is up to the Portuguese to decide whether, in the end, we join forces in a mobilisation across the Iberian Peninsula that would also be historic,” the CCOO leader stated.

In a lighter moment, Sordo invoked José Saramago, Portugal’s sole Nobel laureate in literature, who resided in Lanzarote for nearly two decades and maintained deep ties to progressive movements. “If they hold [the strike] in Portugal, we are going to call it the Saramago strike,” Sordo quipped.

The Spanish general strike on 11 November has been confirmed for weeks, strategically timed 18 days before the snap elections called by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez following parliament’s rejection of government proposals to address the housing crisis.

Both nations have witnessed a surge in activism defending housing rights and combating the soaring cost of living. Taking cues from protests that erupted in late September at Madrid’s Puerta del Sol, demonstrators have occupied central squares in Portuguese cities such as Porto and Lisbon for several nights.

The demands are identical in both countries: protesters are demanding decent, affordable housing, arguing that employment alone is no longer sufficient to secure rental accommodation in major urban centres.

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