Spanish tenants union says fighting “is the same” in both countries

Um spokesperson of the Inquilinas and Inquirinos Union of Madrid, in Spain, today considered that the struggle for housing in both countries “is the same” and expressed itself optimistic about the advance of an Iberian general strike.

“ I think we are the same, that the fight is the same in Spain and Portugal, is very closely linked, because we are countries, societies and sister cultures”, said Lusa Pablo García Bachiller.

Before the start of the concentration in Évora, the trade unionist stressed that the movement for a decent priced housing “at this time in Europe has this capacity to build in a network and is the same, also in France, Germany, Italy, England”.

Pablo García Bachiller, who is in Évora to participate in the cultural initiative “Raio da raia! – A topia en oncrédo”, of the Institute of Radical Imagination, said he has taken advantage of these days in Portugal for contacts in favor of an Iberian general strike on November 11.

“ We have been making contact with grassroots organizations linked to the housing movement in Portugal,” he said, alluding to the Assembly of Residents of Lisbon and to organizations in Porto, and has also been present in the concentration that took place in Évora on Wednesday.

In addition, the same person, who is an architect and urbanist, ensured that the union he represents is interested in the collaboration with the two Portuguese trade unions and the civil service unions.

These union structures, such as CGTP and UGT, “have a real capacity for large-scale mobilization,” highlighted Pablo García Bachiller, manifesting himself to be “very optimistic” about the advance of the Iberian general strike.

“ I was here at the assembly that was convened the other day in Évora, and one of the things we proposed was a cry: 'From Spain to Portugal, the general strike'”.

According to the representative, “it was a cry replicated many times” in this protest in Évora because “people understand that it is a collective tool that goes beyond the border.”.

“ And I am convinced that this [Iberian strike] can be possible in Portugal,” he said.

Pablo García Bachiller stated that the Inquilinas and Inquirinos Union of Madrid considers itself “a brother movement of the camps that are taking place in Portugal” and is therefore willing to “collaborate, negotiate and drive this Iberian general strike”.

But even if this does not happen together, “November 11th will be a day of collective actions that will be able to reproduce, for sure, this cry in Portugal”, he promised.

The spokesman of this Spanish union, which existed 10 years ago and serves to organize “the conflict and collective negotiation in the context of the rental and the right to housing”, representing the tenants in the face of the owners, opined that it takes union to have a ‘voice’.

“If we face this need in the context of housing individually, we are always losing, but if, instead, we organize this struggle collectively, we can manage to negotiate and organize the conflict, at the level of the building, but also at the popular level in the city and before the State”, he argued.

Asked by Lusa about whether this type of union should exist in Portugal, the trade unionist said that recent protests and camped in the country show that the collective organization “is already happening”.

“ These grassroots organizations are beginning to grow,” she stressed, qualifying as “reducing” the vision that says is being transmitted by the media that “retract a conflict between camped women and the police,” contrasting that “the conflict is between residents and owners.”.