The housing affordability crisis is also a labour issue (including at ALBA). Rising property prices and rents, combined with wages that are failing to keep pace with the cost of living, are making it increasingly difficult to access decent housing. Having a job no longer guarantees being able to afford a home.
At ALBA, this issue affects us directly. Working in Cerdanyola del Vallès does not necessarily mean being able to afford a home in the town or its surrounding area. For many people, the alternatives may involve spending an increasing share of their salary on housing or living further away from work, facing higher commuting costs and longer journeys, which can be particularly difficult for shift workers. These pressures come on top of issues that CGT-CELLS has been raising for some time, such as restrictions on career progression and pay inequalities. This is why the right to housing is also directly connected to our working conditions and the purchasing power of our salaries.
However, the housing situation is not simply an economic problem or a matter of insufficient supply: to a large extent, it is a political issue. Public authorities have tools at their disposal to intervene in the market, restrict the use of housing as a speculative asset, penalise the accumulation of properties held purely for investment purposes, significantly expand public housing and promote a more balanced geographical distribution of economic activity and jobs, reducing the enormous pressure concentrated in a few urban areas. Strong enough measures could rapidly change market incentives and substantially reduce speculative pressure on housing prices.
These are not impossible measures. Canada, for example, introduced a federal ban that prevents non-Canadian individuals and companies, with certain exceptions, from purchasing residential property in much of the country. The measure came into force in 2023 and has been extended until 1 January 2027. The Canadian government itself justified the ban by arguing that homes should be places to live, rather than financial assets used for speculative purposes.
Of course, Canada’s measure is more limited than a general ban on speculative property purchases, and it has not, by itself, solved the housing problem. Nevertheless, it demonstrates that legally restricting who can purchase housing and for what purpose is a viable political decision, not a technical or economic impossibility.
From a trade union perspective, it is also worth pointing out that the decades-long absence of genuinely strong measures against property speculation reflects a balance of competing interests and power. Policies that reduce the speculative value of housing would financially affect major property owners, investment funds, financial institutions and other actors who benefit from the current model and who have considerable influence over political decisions. This is why we believe the housing problem cannot be separated from the economic interests surrounding governments and political parties, or from those who exert pressure on them or contribute to their funding. Expensive housing is not a law of nature: it is also the result of political decisions and of the rules that governments choose to establish, or choose not to establish, for the market.
In response to this situation, a 24-hour general strike has been called for Wednesday, 11 November, to demand the right to decent housing and wages that provide a decent living. The strike involves CGT, CCOO, UGT and other trade unions and social movements campaigning for the right to housing.
In this context, CGT Catalunya has launched a survey on working and housing conditions to better understand workers’ circumstances, their main concerns and the possibilities for collective organisation and mobilisation. We believe it is important that the survey also reflects the circumstances of those of us working at ALBA and how these issues affect us.
We encourage you to take part and share the survey with colleagues, family members and friends:
Participation is voluntary, and the survey is described as anonymous in its privacy statement.
From the CGT-CELLS trade union section, we also encourage you to stay informed about upcoming calls for action, assemblies and demonstrations organised in the run-up to the general strike on 11 November, both in workplaces and in local communities. We will keep you updated on developments regarding the strike and how it applies to ALBA, including the particular circumstances of shift work.
More information:
Best regards,
CGT-CELLS Trade Union Section