Madrid (AFP) - Thousands of Spaniards left their workplaces and hit the streets on Wednesday as a general strike sought to crank up pressure on the key issue of housing weeks before a snap election.

Unions reported a “massive” uptake in Spain’s first nationwide 24-hour stoppage since 2012, which also aims to up the ante on wages and public services, but business leaders played down the participation.

In Madrid, where many shops opened as normal, demonstrators rallied in the touristic centre and blocked some roads in pickets that were replicated across the country.

Jaime Vazquez, a 48-year-old technician who repairs industrial machinery, told AFP in the Spanish capital that he had downed tools “to ask for a decent home and the regulation of rent prices” as housing costs spiral.

“The future is not very bright, that’s why we have to fight to change it, so that my children and my grandchildren are able to access a home,” he said.

In Barcelona, school lunch monitor Ines Oliveras said she wanted “to live a normal life, have my own space, my own home, not have to count every euro just to be able to buy food”.

“It’s not just my problem, but a shared one… it’s very intergenerational,” the 29-year-old told AFP.

The size of later demonstrations planned in Madrid and Barcelona will be seen as an indicator of public discontent before the November 29 vote, which the right-wing opposition is predicted to win.

- Trains disrupted -

The impact on industry and services in the European Union’s fourth-largest economy will also be scrutinised, as public transport suffered disruption even with the implementation of minimum service requirements.

In Barcelona, the metro and bus networks were out of action after offering minimum services during the morning rush hour, but Madrid’s suburban trains reported little impact on services.

Public rail operator Renfe said 24 percent of its high-speed services were cancelled, while around 20 percent of trains were scrapped in the sprawling commuter networks of Madrid and Barcelona.

UGT union leader Pepe Alvarez told public broadcaster RTVE that the participation was “massive”, with a “total” stoppage in some regions making the strike “a huge success”.

But his union acknowledged participation was “uneven”, with large mobilisation in the car manufacturing, petrochemicals and meat sectors and in coastal regions.

The CEOE organisation, which represents business leaders, said in a statement that the impact varied by region and area of work, with a “low participation” in most sectors.

Electricity demand had fallen by around five percent, “significantly lower” than in previous strikes, the CEOE said.

- ‘Listen to everyone’ -

The main UGT and CCOO unions called the strike following a wave of nationwide protests over access to housing, sparked by the eviction in September of an 87-year-old Madrid pensioner.

Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez called the election, initially scheduled for 2027, after his minority government failed to secure parliamentary approval for a package of housing measures proposed in response to the demonstrations.

Business groups and the right have rejected the strike, seeing an election-related gambit instead of a genuine labour dispute.

But the unions have insisted the strike is directed against all levels of the state and not only the right, which voted down the government’s housing decrees.

They have defended the walkout as an exceptional measure intended to generate broad social pressure for action on soaring housing costs.

Living costs are another major concern, with inflation hitting 4.9 percent in September and October – its highest level in more than three years.

Isabel Iglesias, a nurse who lives in Madrid, said housing was the issue “that is affecting me the most”. She pays a rent of 1,000 euros ($1,100) with her partner but earns just 1,700 euros a month.

Iglesias, 27, said Sanchez, who has been in power since 2018, “could have done much more” on housing, urging the next government “to listen to everyone and get their act together”.