Strike action unites key public services
Hundreds of municipal workers joined a coordinated strike across Barcelona on Tuesday 6 October 2026, escalating pressure on Mayor Jaume Collboni's government over stalled negotiations with library staff. The industrial action, led by the Intersindical and CGT unions, brought together employees from Libraries, Social Services, Escoles Bressol (municipal nurseries), Citizen Attention Offices (OAC) and Feminism services. Around 300 demonstrators gathered in the morning near the Sagrada Família basilica to launch a joint manifesto titled "Som la Barcelona Social" (We are Social Barcelona), denouncing what they describe as a systematic dismantling of the city’s municipal protection system.
We are defending the people who fight and work to live with dignity.
The manifesto accuses the city council of denying essential resources and staffing, undermining the ability to deliver dignified public services. Unions have framed the ongoing dispute, which began in February 2026, as both a social and labour conflict, criticising the socialist-led executive for a "lack of willingness to dialogue" and for pursuing legal action against strikers instead of resuming negotiations.
Opposition forces extraordinary plenary
The street protests coincided with an extraordinary Municipal Plenary session convened by opposition groups Junts, Barcelona en Comú and ERC to address the prolonged library workers' strike, which has been indefinite since May 2026. The plenary approved a declaration stating that the municipal government has shown "a lack of willingness to dialogue" in resolving the dispute with the Consorci de Biblioteques de Barcelona. The motion, supported by the three opposition groups, urges the mayor to urgently convene a dialogue table with representatives of the library workers’ works council. The resolution also demands that the city resolve the conflict solely through dialogue and withdraw pending criminal and administrative complaints against library staff. The government voted against the motion, while PP and Vox abstained, not due to opposition to the workers’ demands, but because of the call to drop legal proceedings.
There’s been a meeting called, but they’ve already held thirteen, don’t fool us.
Joan Rodríguez, councillor for JuntsXBCN, dismissed Wednesday’s scheduled mediation meeting as a reactive move, saying: "There’s been a meeting called, but they’ve already held thirteen, don’t fool us." Further protests are planned, including a demonstration at the Public Hearing of the Nou Barris district following the plenary.
Reported by metropoliabierta.cat, metropoliabierta.elespanol.com, elnacional.cat, lavanguardia.com, elperiodico.com, tercerainformacion.es, sagradafamilia.org.
