In Spain’s Basque Country, Workers Held a General Strike for Public Care
On Thursday, trade unions and women’s movements across Spain’s Basque Country held an explicitly feminist general strike. Workers are striking for a public community care system — one that ensures care work is well-paid and properly supported.
A woman with a megaphone shouts slogans in favor of the collective right to care as part of the activities during the feminist strike on November 30, 2023 in San Sebastian, Spain. The Basque feminist movement called for a strike to highlight the importance of the collective right to care and gender equality. (Gari Garaialde / Getty Images)
Thursday saw a first-of-a-kind strike in the Basque Country — perhaps without precedent anywhere in Europe. This explicitly feminist general strike saw both women and men taking industrial action to demand “a public-community care system.” The strike is the initiative of the Basque feminist movement, but was coordinated with the full participation of the Basque unions, which represent around two-thirds of all unionized workers in the Basque Country.
Works’ councils that represent workers in 1,500 workplaces and businesses committed to join the strike, alongside 125 demonstrations across a population of less than three million. Strikers include the Mercedes car factory in Vitoria-Gasteiz, the metro in Bilbao, health workers in the public health service (Osakidetza), all of the cleaners at the three largest cleaning companies (Eulen, Garbialdi, ISS), and TV workers at the main Basque channel (EITB).
Jule Goikoetxea is one of the Basque Country’s leading feminist authors and activists. She spoke to Ben Wray about the historic strike and how it came about.
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