Paco Núñez, leader of the conservative People’s Party in Castile-La Mancha, has backed leading party colleagues’ criticism of trade unions. Asked about it on Wednesday in Cuenca, he said he always agreed with Miguel Tellado and Isabel Díaz Ayuso . The background is the nationwide general strike on 11 November, calling for better wages and easier access to housing.
Madrid regional president Ayuso had described trade unions as a “trade union mafia”, among other things, before the strike. On Tuesday, she urged her party leader, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, to put an end to what she called the trade unions’ “rubbish” if he became head of government. General Secretary Tellado, meanwhile, compared the leaders of the two major unions, UGT and CCOO, to extra ministers in the government of Pedro Sánchez.
Núñez expressed his agreement when asked about these attacks. His blanket response does not mean that he himself repeated every phrase in question. At the same time, according to reports by elDiario.es and El Plural, he supported his party colleagues’ positions on the strike.
Several unions called the 24-hour stoppage, including the General Union of Workers (UGT) and the Workers’ Commissions (CCOO). They are calling for improvements to wages and workers’ rights, as well as solutions to the housing shortage. Tenants’ organisations are also supporting the mobilisation. The strike affects workers in both the private and public sectors.
The dispute comes ahead of the snap parliamentary election on 29 November. Party leader Feijóo had previously urged the unions to call off the stoppage. His party has also criticised the mobilisation, accusing it of benefiting the Sánchez government during the election campaign.
CCOO General Secretary Unai Sordo rejected the attacks. On the day of the strike, he criticised Ayuso for her remarks and held her partly responsible for the burden on households in the Madrid region. UGT chief Pepe Álvarez is one of the union representatives whom Tellado had compared to members of the government, alongside Sordo.
Although Núñez made his statement in Castilla-La Mancha, the issue at hand is a nationwide dispute over housing costs, wages and the role of trade unions. The information available does not allow any definitive figures to be established for participation in the stoppage.
Editor: Phillipe Schmidt-Araguin (Article created with AI assistance).