Strike called during Spain's election campaign: what is it really for?

A strike during the campaign: the timing says it all

What exactly is being demanded in the strike called in the middle of Spain's election campaign? The question has been doing the rounds since day one, and the answer is not on the placards but in the calendar. The strike falls two days before the election and overlaps with the reflection day, that window when the law bans rallies and statements. That is where the trouble starts.

Part of the analysis holds that the real aim is to monopolise the front pages just when the parties have been gagged. The organisers take to the streets, and the media —as the public calls them— fill their front pages with images of packed streets and headlines about the demands. Those planning to vote left will do so anyway, but for 48 hours nothing else will be talked about.

Why is there debate over whether it is a strike or a demonstration?

Because the format matters. A general strike brings the country to a halt and forces workers to decide whether to walk out. A demonstration is just a photo. This call reads more like the latter than the former, hence the anger of those expecting something else. Some point out that on the day of the "feminist general strike", the world kept turning exactly as before.

Minister Montero has declared it a strike against the opposition, according to the discussion. For many, that is the smoking gun: it is not called against a labour reform or a spending cut, but against the political adversary. Vertical regime unions, some sum up.

The SMS precedent and the usual suspicion

It is not the first time. Twenty-two years ago, in March, the call was spread by SMS and the result was the same debate: spontaneous mobilisation or back-office engineering? The suspicion that the unions fall in line with the government when it suits them is nothing new, and every new call revives it.

The opposite argument also circulates: if the PP had 100 strikes on its hands, nobody would call them a hoax. For some, the double standard is the real issue. And in the middle of it all, right-wing voters who, it is said, may feel intimidated about going to the polls. That is no longer economics, it is electoral psychology.

What nobody disputes: the underlying problem

Unaffordable housing is real and serious. Wages, working hours, collective agreements and job insecurity are the usual battlegrounds. But this call is not about that, or not only. It is about occupying the news space while everyone else is silenced by law. The reasonable doubt is whether that should be called a strike or a campaign.

Meanwhile, ordinary people are still waiting for someone to explain what is being demanded. Because if the answer is "the vote for little Pedro", as the street puts it, then the strike is no longer a tool of pressure, it is a rally with placards. Fine irony: on the only day the law forces politicians to stay silent, it is the unions who do the talking.