Hospitality Employers Put Barcelona Strike Turnout at 5% on Nov. 11

Hostelería de España, Spain’s national hospitality employers’ association, says only 5% of hospitality workers in the province of Barcelona followed the general strike on Wednesday, Nov. 11. The group told Metrópoli Abierta that bars and restaurants were operating almost as usual.

The figure is an employers’ estimate from the first sampling of the day, not a final count. Barcelona was the highest reading the association reported anywhere in Spain.

What the hospitality employers reported

According to the association’s own numbers, most provinces sat between 0% and 2% of workers on strike. Barcelona, at 5%, was the exception. Sources at the association described the hospitality sector as functioning with practical normality and called the turnout “very low” in the early sampling.

In the same report, Metrópoli Abierta noted that shops in the center of Barcelona had protected their display windows and closed their doors because of the strike. That makes the retail picture in the city center look different from the one the hospitality group describes for bars.

The association’s call on security and access

In a statement posted on X, Hostelería de España asked for coexistence, responsibility and social peace. It said it respects the right to strike of workers who choose to use it, and equally the freedom of those who prefer to go to work. Both choices, it said, should be made without pressure or coercion.

The association also asked public administrations and the security forces to take the measures needed to protect hospitality businesses, their workers and their customers. It asked that access to premises be guaranteed for owners who decide to stay open. In its words, “dialogue and respect must prevail.”

Valencia’s employers report an even lower figure

Elsewhere in Spain, the Confederación Empresarial Valenciana (CEV, the business confederation of the Valencian Community) put turnout at 2.57% in the first hours of the strike, according to La Vanguardia. The CEV said productive activity was running normally across its whole business base of companies and workers, and that nearly all staff had reported to work.

The confederation added that its figure is a first assessment that will be updated during the day. It noted that retail had not yet opened generally at that hour, so shops are not reflected in the number. Remote work was helping some sectors keep going despite mobility problems, and the CEV said no notable incidents had been reported at workplaces or in the main industrial areas.

Sources: Metrópoli Abierta, La Vanguardia