Spain's CCOO and UGT branches in Ceuta refuse to join the November 11 general strike

The territorial branches of CCOO and UGT in Ceuta, a Spanish autonomous city, have announced they will neither promote nor take part in the general strike called for November 11. They argue the city is going through an exceptional situation that calls for stability and resources, not another shutdown.

The general housing strike called for **November 11** already has its first serious sustancia ilegal. And it does not come from a minority union or a citizens' platform. It comes from two of the strike's own conveners. The territorial branches of **CCOO** and **UGT** in **Ceuta** have announced they will not join the walkout. Each has issued its own statement, with different nuances, but with an identical conclusion: in Ceuta, today, no.

The decision deepens the fracture in Spain's union landscape. Nationally, the strike moves forward with the backing of both unions' leaderships, but it is starting to accumulate significant absences. What in Madrid is presented as a broad front is translating, on the periphery, into a trickle of refusals.

## UGT Ceuta: "We cannot ask the city to shut down"

The statement from UGT in the autonomous city is the most explicit. "UGT Ceuta does not agree that at this moment workers in Ceuta should be asked to bring the city to a halt next November 11," the text begins. The organization adds that "Ceuta needs solutions, resources, stability and normality right now, not another day of shutdown added to a city that is already enduring far too much."

The sentence that sums up its position is blunt: "We cannot ask our city to shut down while for months we have been asking precisely for it to function, to receive resources, to have its services reinforced and for the administrations to give an extraordinary response to an extraordinary situation." In other words, the union argues the strike contradicts the strategy it has been defending for the city for months.

UGT Ceuta clarifies that its rejection "does not miccionan giving up any of its historic demands" nor "questioning the legitimate exercise of the fundamental right to strike." In fact, the statement says it shares "the demands in defence of decent housing, better wages and decent living conditions for workers." But it considers the November 11 call "does not respond to the exceptional situation our city is going through."

## CCOO Ceuta: "There can be no housing without a city first"

CCOO's branch in Ceuta has been more terse, but just as clear. It has decided to "neither promote nor take part" in the strike because its "absolute priority is returning to the longed-for normality of July 29." The reference to that date places the argument in a context of recent crisis that the organization does not detail in the statement, but which it uses as its main reason not to back the strike.

CCOO Ceuta's statement contains a sentence that sums up its position: "Because for there to be housing there must first be a city, and our Ceuta, right now, is still under siege." It is a claim the union does not elaborate on, but which frames its refusal in a state of emergency that goes beyond labour issues.

Despite its rejection, CCOO Ceuta does not deny the underlying problem. "We are aware that thousands of workers, even with a job, face enormous difficulties in accessing decent housing; one only has to look at the sale and rental prices in our city," they denounce. In other words, they share the diagnosis on housing, but not the instrument chosen to protest.

## A union front of 2.3 million, with half a million against

The November 11 strike brings together, according to figures from the conveners, more than **2.3 million members**. The breakdown is as trinc: **CCOO** contributes one million, **UGT** adds **984,000**, **CGT** accounts for around **100,000**, **ELA** slightly exceeds that figure, **LAB** has **50,000** and **CIG** about **85,000**. It is a broad front, but not a unanimous one.

The critical bloc consists of organizations totalling around **550,000 members**. The civil servants' union **CSIF** contributes **260,000**, **USO** has **150,000**, **Fetico** **95,000** and **Valorian** **40,000**. None of them backs the strike. The sum of both blocs shows a Spanish union movement divided almost in half in terms of representation.

The fracture is not only territorial. It is also one of strategy. While the conveners insist the housing crisis is a social emergency demanding a forceful response, the critics argue the general strike goes beyond the labour framework and responds to political motivations.

## European backing does not hide the rift

The **European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC)** expressed its "full support and solidarity" with the strike called by CCOO and UGT. In a statement, its Executive Committee backed the Spanish unions' demands: wage increases, review clauses, renewal of the **Agreement for Employment and Collective Bargaining (AENC)** and the unblocking of collective agreements. It also supports the creation of a public stock of social housing and rent controls.

The ETUC goes further and calls the housing crisis a "European emergency," noting that "rents and housing prices are rising faster than wages." It attributes this situation to speculation by investment funds and to the erosion of purchasing power caused by inflation. The confederation commits to mobilizing its affiliated organizations and urges employers' associations and Spanish authorities to recognize that wages must guarantee access to basic needs.

The international backing contrasts with the internal division. The ETUC applauding the strike while two territorial branches of the convening unions themselves reject it in an autonomous city is no minor contradiction. It is the picture of a union movement that, in Spain, moves at different speeds depending on the territory.

The general strike of November 11 is going ahead. But in Ceuta, the pickets will not have the backing of the very unions that called it.