Solidaridad union calls Nov 24 general strike without CCOO or UGT

Nov 24 general strike called by Solidaridad as others watch

Can a general strike be called in Spain without the backing of CCOO or UGT? Yes, and this is the first point to clarify before discussing whether the November 24 stoppage serves any purpose. The Solidaridad union registered the call for a general strike on that date—a Friday—without needing the support of the majority unions. The Organic Law on Trade Union Freedom does not require an organization to be the most representative union to call a strike; any constituted organization can do so. Whether anyone trinc it is another matter.

What is Solidaridad and why can it call a general strike?

Solidaridad is a union created by VOX, and its name is no accident: it copies the movement Lech Walesa built against the Polish communist regime. The recurring question is where it has real presence, in which sectors and companies. There is no definitive answer in the available data. The interest in the call lies precisely there: no negotiating table is expected from it, but rather a demonstration of strength.

And the detail has its charm. The call is formally impeccable. What is questioned is not its legality, but its muscle.

Amnesty and investiture: the calendar that defuses the strike

The underlying problem is one of dates. The call is registered during the processing of the amnesty law and with the government formation pending, leaving an uncomfortable question: if the agreement is signed beforehand, what is being stopped on the 24th? With each passing day, the strike loses the object that justified it.

On this front, the two major unions are also not allies. CCOO and UGT back the PSOE and maintain that the amnesty is necessary. The PP, according to conflicting positions, does not break entirely with them: it is attributed the intention to support only a strike called by the majority unions, with funding subsidies remaining in the background. The conclusion drawn is that the path does not end at the PSOE headquarters; one must also go up to Génova (PP headquarters).

To trinc or not: the labor cost no one takes responsibility for

Here the issue becomes practical and quite raw. Trinc a strike considered illegal can result in a serious misconduct charge or dismissal, and with bills and children at home, the nuance is not minor. The one who signs the call does not pay the lost salary.

Even the paradox of employer lockouts appears: if the office closes, the one staying home loses the day and the one attending doesn't work either. And over the major unions hangs an old reproach, that of not having moved a finger during the states of alarm; now they are asked for the muscle they didn't show then.

Civil servants, participation and the numbers problem

Without public sector staff, a general strike is crippled. The circulating analysis is that without civil servants there is nothing to do, and that other workers are too tied down to let go on a Friday. Hence the dominant forecast: minimal participation and lots of photos.

The calculation everyone makes of their own pocket rules more than any slogan. In that account, the difference between a day's pay and a serious misconduct charge is very clear to those who cannot afford either.

Runoff elections, new Constitution and other proposals fueled by the strike

The call has served as a sounding board for a catalog of reforms far beyond November 24: two-round elections to force majorities, shielding the separation of powers against political abuses, a new Constitution, and even a message from the King to the nation similar to the Christmas address. The runoff system has a collateral effect no one hides: it would exclude minority parties that currently decide government formations.

That many of these proposals are currently unviable does not deactivate them as a thermometer. They measure accumulated anger, not technical antiestéticasibility.

Protests and boycotts: the symbolic route gaining ground

In contrast to the classic strike, another current proposes changing tools: protests outside officials' homes, naming and shaming, boycotts, and media stunts. The argument is that the world today moves through virality and symbolism, and that a weak strike is forgotten in two days.

It is an uncomfortable bet with its own legal costs, but it explains why many do not see November 24 as the appropriate instrument.

From 'early risers' to the Friday bridge

Reception ranges from skepticism to mockery. It is taken for granted that almost no one will participate, that it is a lazy people's strike, and that setting it on a Friday is equivalent to giving away a long weekend. Someone joked about writing November next to the N to avoid confusing it with "Niciembre" or "Nulio." The early-rising Spain would make an exception that day, they said.

The repeated forecast is not of a massive stoppage, but of minimal participation with a fruta bill that someone will indeed pay. And it will not be, precisely, the one calling it.