Spain’s housing crisis: minister backs general strike
Spain’s housing crisis is one reason for Wednesday’s general strike: minister Pablo Bustinduy urges workers to walk out in defence of the right to housing. Speaking in Madrid, Spain, on Tuesday, the Minister for Social Rights, Consumer Affairs and the 2030 Agenda says he will do all he can to help the strike succeed.
Bustinduy says housing speculation turns workers’ wages into private profits and concentrates wealth among what he calls the 1% of property owners and an international rentier elite. He argues that workers have won their rights through strikes, and contrasts the right to a decent home with owning properties to profit from others’ work.
Elma Saiz, Spain’s Minister for Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, calls for respect for trade unions and the constitutional right to strike. She describes the stoppage as a protest for everyone’s rights but does not directly answer whether the government should have done more about the housing crisis. Asked whether ministers will strike, she says what matters is the right to do so — and respect for that right.
Source: Europa Press / Mallorca.com