In today’s news and commentary, UAW President Shawn Fain succeeds in his reelection bid, and Spanish unions call for a general strike.

On Friday, United Auto Workers (UAW) President Shawn Fain announced victory in his reelection campaign. While the union has not published official vote tallies yet, Fain’s campaign reports that he received 68% of the vote with his closest challenger receiving 13%. Other candidates on Fain’s UAW United slate overwhelmingly won their contests, with the slate likely to win Secretary-Treasurer, the three Vice President Positions, and all the regional director races it contested. This victory comes amidst the Trump Administration’s aggressive scrutiny of Fain and the UAW, with the Department of Justice conducting an ongoing investigation into alleged corruption that Fain argues is politically motivated. Fain now looks towards upcoming major negotiations including 2028 negotiations with the Big Three automakers.

Earlier this week, major Spanish unions announced a general strike to occur on November 11th, just weeks before the country’s snap election. Spain’s two largest trade union confederations, the Unión General de Trabajadores (UGT) and Confederación Sindical de Comisiones Obreras (CCOO), called for the strike to protest against rising rents and evictions. The strike will be the first joint general strike in 14 years, and will last for 24 hours. Over the past several weeks, members and supporters of Spain’s tenant unions have engaged in nationwide demonstrations to demand relief from rising housing costs. The movement was spurred after police evicted Maricarmen Abascal, an 87 year-old woman, from her flat in Madrid following dramatic rent increases instituted by the private equity firm that recently bought her building. The Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, called for the upcoming election after Congress rejected his party’s legislative measures to respond to the crisis, including the suspension of evictions of vulnerable tenants until 2030 and tax increases for tourist apartments. While Sánchez, his political coalition, and the trade unions hope to motivate voters frustrated by the housing crisis, right-wing politicians are focusing attention on their anti-immigration agenda following the Ceuta migration crisis earlier this year.