The change to the Penal Code that the left made to legalize its use of coercion during strikes

Left-wing trade unions have called for a general strike this Wednesday, November 11, with a clear political objective.

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A day of coercion against Spaniards with the right to vote

The Spanish Constitution protects the right to strike in Article 28. What the Constitution does not establish is that labor unions have the right to coerce workers who do not support their strikes—a form of coercion that has become standard practice whenever strikes are called by leftist unions. In fact, what is taking place today is being called a "general strike," but in reality, it is a day of coercion against Spaniards with the right to vote—a brazen attempt to intimidate anyone who does not wish to support leftist parties, instilling fear in voters to push them toward a political change that would put an end to a government mired in corruption scandals and heavily criticized for its disastrous management—a government that, this year alone, has already seen 116 deaths in railway accidents.

The PSOE’s reform to legalize coercion by trade unions

To ensure the success of strikes like the one today, left-wing trade unions (including the socialist-aligned UGT and the communist-aligned CCOO) often deploy what they call "informational pickets"—a term that strikes anyone who has witnessed their activities over the last few decades as profoundly cynical: they are not informational, but rather coercive and violent. They do not inform workers about their rights (which include the right to refrain from striking, should they so choose). Their objective is to force workers to join the strike, employing threats and violence against those who do not wish to support it. The clearest evidence of this is a legislative change promoted five years ago by the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE).

On September 8, 2020, Pedro Sánchez’s party introduced a parliamentary initiative to repeal Section 3 of Article 315 of the Penal Code. The provision in question stated the following:

"Those who, acting as a group or individually—but in coordination with others—coerce other people into starting or continuing a strike, shall be punished with a prison sentence ranging from one year and nine months to three years, or with a fine for a period of eighteen to twenty-four months."

In essence, removing this provision would have effectively legalized the use of coercion by labor unions during strikes. This was proposed by the very same Socialists who, a year later, pushed for another reform to classify the mere informational activities of pro-life groups outside abortion clinics as "coercion"—simply because those activities were not to the liking of the Left.

A measure approved by the Left—the kind typical of a totalitarian regime

The PSOE’s proposal to give free rein to union-led violence was voted on on March 11, 2021. The voting results can be viewed by clicking here (PDF). The initiative was approved with 190 votes in favor (from the PSOE and its separatist and far-left allies), while 149 deputies voted against it: those from the Popular Party (PP), Vox, Ciudadanos, the Navarrese People's Union (UPN), and Foro Asturias. Once passed, the reform was published in the Official State Gazette (BOE) on April 23, 2021, as Organic Law 5/2021. That law remains in effect today, giving free rein to union thugs during today’s general strike.

Since that day, the Penal Code has mandated prison sentences of up to two years for those who obstruct a strike "through deception or by exploiting a situation of necessity," and up to three years if such obstruction is carried out through coercion; yet, if labor unions use coercion to compel participation in a strike, such conduct carries no criminal penalty, simply because the Spanish Left, much like the nazis, supports what is known as "perpetrator-based criminal law". Under this framework, an act is not punished —or is exempted from punishment— based on the nature of the act itself, but rather based on the status or ideology of the person who committed it; this is a legislative approach characteristic of totalitarian regimes and one that should be entirely banished from democratic nations.

On November 29, we have an opportunity to put an end to these abuses

Clearly, this is a purely abusive and unjust piece of legislation, through which the Left granted itself the right to use violence to compel workers to support a strike. It is an abuse that was designed with days like today in mind. This reform leaves the victims of violence—perpetrated by leftist trade unions, which systematically resort to such coercion when calling strikes—completely defenseless.

If the general election on November 29 leads to a political shift in Spain—a possibility suggested by every credible opinion poll—then such aberrant laws must be repealed immediately, for the sake of the health of our democracy. A civilized society cannot grant anyone carte blanche to engage in coercion, regardless of how much the Left may believe it has the right to impose its will upon all Spaniards by force.

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Photo: @CCOOclm. Picketers from the communist trade union Comisiones Obreras blocking traffic in Guadalajara during the final hours of November 10, 2026.