The 11N is gaining strength in Aragon: the tenant movement and combative unionism call for stopping the country to "end the housing business".

The general strike of November 11th already has a formal call in Aragon. The Renters' Union of Zaragoza, CGT, CNT, and OSTA have appeared before the media this Wednesday, along with the Spanish Government Delegation in Plaza del Pilar, to announce the registration of a 24-hour strike that seeks to bring to the workplaces a demand that has been filling the streets for weeks: to end the business of housing and recover decent living conditions for the working class. The call also has the support of CUT, Intersindical, and the Aragonese Workers' Union (SOA), as well as the Assembly of Renters of Teruel and Dignified Housing Viello Aragón, a collective from the Pyrenees. The organizations emphasize that the strike does not belong exclusively to those who register it, but to "the entire working class and the social groups and organizations that are collaborating in its construction." The Aragonese registration comes two days after the trade union organizations and the Confederation of Renters' Unions formalized the state call before the Ministry of Labour. But in Aragon, the prominence this Wednesday has belonged to the housing movement and the organizations of combative unionism, which have presented a common reivindicatory table and defended the need to build the strike from the neighborhoods and workplaces. The appearance has also shown an organizational difference: while the Renters' Union, CGT, CNT, and OSTA announced their call jointly, CCOO and UGT Aragon registered their own separately, with coincident demands on housing, wages, and prices, but with a differentiated union strategy. Renters' Union: "Housing cannot be a universal right while it is still treated as a market good" The Renters' Union of Zaragoza has placed access to housing at the center of a call that, however, seeks to go much further than rent. "Housing cannot be a universal right while it is still treated as a market good. Its function must be exclusively residential, and not profit-oriented. The business must end, and those who derive private benefits from a property that should be a guaranteed right must be expropriate," the organization defended. For the renters' movement, the rising cost of housing is part of a broader deterioration of living material conditions. The rise in prices, wage stagnation, difficulties in accessing housing, and the weakening of public services affect, sustain, a same social majority. The calling organizations call on the Aragonese working class to join the strike and warn that they do not expect solutions only from institutions. In their statement, they attribute the situation to the policies developed by different governments, both regional and state. They expressly point to the Aragonese executive of PP and Vox and the state government of PSOE and Sumar, to whom they attribute having allowed more than 250,000 evictions in the last seven years, a figure provided by the calling organizations. Their criticism is directed at policies that, in their view, have protected the interests of owners, landlords, and large companies while housing prices reached historic highs. In response, they defend that progress will depend on collective organization and the mobilization capacity of those who work, study, or dedicate a good part of their income to paying rent. Expropriating housing, lowering rents, raising wages, and ending evictions The organizations have agreed on a common reivindicatory table with six demands for November 11th. The first is the expropriation of housing in the hands of funds and large owners, with the aim of removing them from real estate speculation and allocating them to guarantee access to a home. They also demand a drastic reduction in housing prices, indefinite rental contracts, and the end of all evictions. In the labor sphere, they demand wage increases and a reduction in working hours. They consider that increases in collective agreements do not compensate for the rising cost of housing and basic goods, so working no longer guarantees the ability to face daily expenses. The sixth demand is the end of repression against those who organize and mobilize, together with the repeal of the Anti-Morality Law, an unfulfilled promise by the executive of Pedro Sánchez. The program thus links the housing conflict with working conditions and social rights, and proposes a joint response to problems that the organizations consider inseparable. CGT demands a 30-hour workday and minimum wages and pensions of 1,500 euros Alberto Gamarra, secretary of the Union Action of CGT Aragon, recalled during the appearance that his organization was the first trade union center at the state level to support the strike promoted by the renters' movement. This support was made visible on October 4th, when their Congress ended, although CGT already had previous agreements to support a call of this type. The union has registered the strike in both the state and in Aragon and La Rioja. CGT demands a reduction in housing prices, measures against speculation, and the expropriation of properties in the hands of financial entities to constitute an affordable public rental stock. They also demand to regulate seasonal and room rents, guarantee indefinite contracts, and immediately halt evictions of people and families without housing alternatives. In the labor sphere, the organization proposes linking wage increases to the real CPI, incorporating the cost of housing, to prevent increases in collective agreements from being nullified by inflation. Among their demands are also the reduction of the working day to 30 hours per week without loss of salary and a minimum salary and pension of 1,500 euros. CGT holds the successive governments, regardless of their political affiliation, responsible for not responding to the housing crisis and denounces institutional collusion with employers in blocking labor improvements. The union recalls the most serious consequences of residential insecurity, such as Maricarmen's death after her eviction, and calls for organizing the strike from workplaces to make the 11N a turning point in the defense of decent living conditions. OSTA: "Wages and housing are two sides of the same coin" David Lázaro, general secretary of OSTA, has also held the successive governments responsible for not having intervened effectively in the housing crisis. His criticism has been directed both at the state executives of PSOE and Sumar and the PP, as well as the Aragonese governments. He questioned the policies of the previous four-party system formed by PSOE, PAR, CHA, and Podemos, and warned that the current Executive of Jorge Azcón, composed of PP and Vox, maintains, in his view, a similar orientation. "Wages and housing are two sides of the same coin," Lázaro summarized. The OSTA leader has put figures on the problem in Zaragoza. According to him, the average rent already exceeds 1,000 euros per month, while numerous net salaries are between 1,200 and 1,300 euros. He warned that this situation forces a large part of the population to dedicate more than half of their income to paying for housing, drastically reducing their capacity to face other expenses. For OSTA, the general strike is necessary precisely because the cost of living cannot be resolved solely through the negotiation of labor agreements. CNT points to capitalism as the root of the housing crisis and the deterioration of social rights Héctor Gisbert, general secretary of CNT Aragon-Rioja, has defended the need to create spaces of confluence between labor unions, housing collectives, and social organizations. During his intervention, he drew a line with the strategy of CCOO and UGT, to which he attributed a more orientation linked to the electoral calendar of the 29th. For CNT, the housing crisis is part of a set of problems that affect the working class, from pensions and healthcare to education and depopulation. Gisbert has identified capitalism as the common root of these difficulties and questioned whether they can be resolved only through new decrees, legislative reforms, or changes of government. His union defends that the strike must serve both to improve living conditions in the short and medium term and to strengthen a social and union movement capable of proposing alternatives to the current economic model. CUT: "There is life on the other side of our companies" Chabier Anadón, from CUT, has conveyed to AraInfo a reflection on the limits of labor negotiations when the cost of living absorbs a large part of wage improvements. "All workers have to be very clear, first of all, that there is life on the other side of our companies," he stated. Anadón recalled that the price of rent, food, and other daily expenses directly condition living conditions, even when progress is made in collective agreements. "It is not just about getting good agreements and certain wage increases X percent," he pointed out, warning that these improvements can be neutralized if prices increase above wages. Therefore, he defended that mobilization should not be limited to companies but should bring workers, students, and retired people to the streets. For CUT, the November 11th strike represents an opportunity to connect labor conflicts with the difficulties faced by the population outside of workplaces. CCOO and UGT register their call separately in Aragon CCOO and UGT Aragon registered their own general strike call for November 11th this Wednesday in the Aragonese Mediation and Arbitration Service (SAMA), under the slogan "Wages, housing, prices." Their general secretaries, Manuel Pina and José Juan Arceiz, denounced the rising cost of housing, the loss of purchasing power, and the blockage of collective bargaining. Both trade unions have pointed out that housing has increased by about 14% in Aragon over the last year and have demanded measures to contain prices. They have also demanded to unblock collective bargaining and update labor risk prevention regulations. The strike is organized from Zaragoza, Teruel, and the Pyrenees The registration in Aragon is only part of the preparations. The Renters' Union of Zaragoza insists that the strike needs daily organization and calls for participation in the committees that are emerging in Aragonese neighborhoods and municipalities. This Wednesday, at 7:00 PM, the five neighborhood committees of Zaragoza hold simultaneous open assemblies. Margen Izquierda meets at AV Picarral, Juslibol Street 36; Centro, at AV Lanuza, San Pablo Street 23; Las Fuentes–San José, at AV San José, Ventura Rodríguez Street 12; Torrero–La Paz, at AV Montes de Torrero, Granada Street 43; and Delicias–Universidad, at CSP La Amapola, Montañés Street 4. The organization extends to Alto Aragón and the south of the country. In Samiánigo, the strike committee promoted by Dignified Housing Viello Aragón meets this Wednesday at 7:00 PM at CSA A Melonera. In Teruel, the Renters' Assembly has called an open assembly for Thursday, October 22nd, at 6:30 PM, at CSA A Ixena. People interested in joining the preparations can consult the activities and register through Toka, the strike organization platform, presented by the Confederation of Renters' Unions. The renters' movement also joins the pensioner mobilization of October 24th The connection between housing, wages, and pensions will have another expression this Saturday, October 24th, in Madrid. The Confederation of Renters' Unions has announced its participation in the unified demonstration of the pensioner movement, which will start at 12:00 PM from Atocha and end on Calle de Alcalá, at the level of the Sevilla metro. The organization demands a real increase in public pensions and wages in 2027 to compensate for inflation and recover purchasing power. They warn that revaluing pensions is insufficient if a growing part of those incomes ends up being allocated to paying rent. The pensioner mobilization will thus be another of the dates preceding the general strike of November 11th, in which the renters' movement and union organizations seek to bring together demands for housing, work, and decent living conditions. The next appointment is already in the Aragonese neighborhoods. After registering the strike with the institutions, the calling organizations return this Wednesday to the assemblies. There they will decide how to extend the strike to more workplaces and how to include those who are not yet participating in the committees.