Barcelona municipal workers to support the 11N strike

Most unions represented in Barcelona's City Council will support the general strike on November 11. The only exception is CSIF, which rejects it due to its political connotations.

Most unions present in the works council of the Barcelona City Council will join the general strike on November 11, and they will do so almost unanimously. The organisers and those who support it make up the vast majority of the union representation of the municipal workforce.

Several of them are part of the so-called Barcelona Social Shield, a collective that has been on indefinite strike for over 8 months against the latest municipal collective agreement. It is driven by CGT, La Intersindical, and Àbacos, and the strike aims to halt the loss of purchasing power, raise salaries, and ensure access to housing.

The call, they explain, is not directed solely at those groups. It addresses all workers of the Barcelona council. CCOO and UGT have confirmed that they will join the general strike and that they will hold independent assemblies with their members at the beginning of November.

CGT is following the same roadmap. According to sources from the union, the strike has already been called and informed in the workplaces, and on November 3, they will hold an assembly at the Casa de la Vaga, a space provided by UB at the Central Faculty of plaza de Universitat.

La Intersindical talks about "calling and promoting" the strike. Its delegate in the Social Services area of the City Council, Miquel Rubio, participated a few days ago in one of the first talks titled How to organise a strike, also at the Casa de la Vaga.

Àbacos, which still does not have representation in the works council despite its prominent role in the mobilisations of recent months, criticises the timing chosen. Nevertheless, it announces that it will join the strike.

"We join because the cause is just and out of solidarity with all the people suffering from the housing crisis," but "we are deeply critical of the timing of the call".

In that same vein, the union reproaches the major unions for having had two legislative terms to promote strong mobilisations while families saw how rent absorbed a good part of their wages.

The only dissenting voice is the Independent Union Central of Civil Servants (CSIF), which does not support the strike. In a statement, it considers that calling a general strike just weeks before the General Elections on November 29 has political connotations incompatible with its independence and strictly professional character.

For residents, the strike may affect the functioning of municipal services on November 11. The calling unions will maintain their assemblies until that date, and the next step will be to find out how many workers ultimately support the strike.