Strike in Barcelona and Catalonia today: what runs, minimum services and the next strikes

The next strikes affecting Barcelona and Catalonia, from the official sources checked on 30 October 2026: Friday 30 October and Monday 2 November 2026, Ouigo train drivers' strike: check your train on Ouigo's website; Wednesday 11 November 2026, 24-hour general strike called by CCOO and UGT, among other organisations. Minimum services for Wednesday 11 November 2026 have not been published yet: they are set by an order or resolution a few days before.

Friday 30 October and Monday 2 November 2026: Ouigo train drivers' strike (SEMAF)

• Called by: the train drivers' union SEMAF, for drivers at Ouigo, the high-speed operator that links Barcelona and Madrid.
• Days: Friday 30 October and Monday 2 November 2026, according to Ouigo.

Minimum services on Friday 30 October and Monday 2 November 2026

Spain's Ministry of Transport approved a 71% minimum service: 55 of the 77 trains scheduled over the two days, according to Ouigo's notice. That is how it read on 27 October; on 30 October Ouigo's website could not be read from here and the situation may have changed. Before you travel, check your train on Ouigo's website: it is the only source for which trains run.

What to do on Friday 30 October and Monday 2 November 2026

• Ouigo says it has emailed affected passengers, who can change their ticket free of charge or ask for a refund, depending on how much notice they were given and on its general conditions.

Wednesday 11 November 2026: 24-hour general strike

• Called by: CCOO and UGT, who presented it on 19 October 2026 with CGT, CNT, Confederación Intersindical, CO.BAS, the Sindicato de Inquilinas tenants' union and the actors' union Unión de Actores y Actrices. In Catalonia it is called by CCOO de Catalunya, UGT de Catalunya and CGT Catalunya, and the teachers' union USTEC·STEs has ratified it for education.
• Registration: CCOO said on 19 October 2026 that the strike had been registered, and UGT de Catalunya has announced its registration too.
• Hours: 24 hours from 00:00 on 11 November, according to CCOO de Catalunya. Where people work shifts, it starts with the first shift even if that begins before midnight, and ends with the last one even if that ends after.
• Who is called out: all workers, public and private, in every activity.
• Demands: affordable housing, wages, prices and public services, according to the unions.
• Demonstrations: in the main provincial capitals, according to CCOO de Catalunya, which will announce times and places on its channels.
• Sector by sector: minimum services for each service, schools, health and strikers' rights, in our guide to the 11 November general strike.

Minimum services on Wednesday 11 November 2026

Not published yet (checked on 27 October 2026). For services that answer to the Generalitat (Rodalies and regional trains, metro, buses, tram, FGC, schools, public healthcare and the Catalan administration itself), the Department of Business and Labour will set them in an order published in the DOGC, the Catalan official gazette; for State services such as high-speed and long-distance trains, the Spanish government sets them. In the 2024 general strikes the order was signed two or three days before the strike. We will add them here as soon as they are out.

What to do on Wednesday 11 November 2026

• Come back in the days before the 11th: once the Department of Business and Labour publishes its order, we will add what it sets for Rodalies, the metro, buses, FGC, schools and healthcare. Each operator's timetables will be on the websites in the table below.
• Parents: USTEC·STEs is calling all education staff out. Your school will tell you what it can provide that day.

Past strikes

What had been announced and published before each strike, as it stood in the official sources.

Thursday 29 October 2026: Renfe train drivers' strike (SEMAF)

• Called by: the train drivers' union SEMAF, which announced it on 16 October 2026.
• Hours: 00:01 to 23:59.
• Who is called out: drivers at every Renfe Group company, across Spain. The metro, buses, tram and FGC are not part of it.
• Minimum services: On Rodalies de Catalunya, regional lines included, trains run to the minimum services set by the Generalitat's Department of Business and Labour: 66% of the usual service at peak times and 33% for the rest of the day, according to Rodalies' notice (updated 26 October 2026), which links a minimum-service timetable for every line. For Renfe's other trains (high-speed, long and medium distance), Renfe carries a minimum-services notice on renfe.com.

How minimum services work in Catalonia

The right to strike is recognised by Article 28.2 of the Spanish Constitution, which also requires the law to guarantee "el mantenimiento de los servicios esenciales de la comunidad" (that the community's essential services keep running). Royal Decree-Law 17/1977 adds two rules: a strike must be notified to the employer and the labour authority five calendar days ahead, or ten if it affects public services (Articles 3 and 4), and the government authority may take the measures needed to keep services running (Article 10.2). That is why a strike affecting public services, such as transport, is announced at least ten days in advance.

In Catalonia, under Decree 120/1995, they are set by the head of the Generalitat's Department of Business and Labour (Departament d'Empresa i Treball), both for strikes at companies that provide essential services within the Generalitat's powers and for strikes by the Generalitat's own staff, as the minimum-services orders published in the DOGC state. The department issues one order per strike, setting a percentage or a minimum headcount service by service: public transport, A&E and hospitals, health centres, schools, duty pharmacies, water, electricity and gas, and the administration itself.

State services such as high-speed and long-distance trains get their minimum services from the Spanish government: for Ouigo's strike in autumn 2026, the Ministry of Transport. As for airports, the Generalitat's orders only set the operations of the two it runs itself, Lleida-Alguaire and Andorra-La Seu d'Urgell: for flights at Barcelona-El Prat, Girona and Reus, which Aena runs, what counts is what Aena and your airline publish.

Once the order is out, each employer, after hearing the strike committee, names the staff who must cover the minimum services, preferably people who are not striking, and must notify them formally (Article 2 of Order EMT/201/2024). Safety and maintenance cover for premises and equipment is not a minimum service: each employer sets it after hearing the workers' representatives.

When they are published

Very close to the strike. For the general strike of 8 March 2024, Order EMT/38/2024 was signed on 5 March and published in the DOGC on the 6th; for the one on 27 September 2024, Order EMT/201/2024 was signed on the 25th and published in the DOGC on the day itself, the 27th. Each operator then publishes its timetables: for the Renfe strike of 29 October 2026, Rodalies' notice with the percentages had already been updated on the 26th.

What an earlier general strike's order set (for reference only)

For the general strike of 27 September 2024, Order EMT/201/2024 set 85% of normal service on Rodalies and regional trains, the metro, TMB buses, FGC, the tram and all other urban and interurban transport, including the bus between Barcelona and the airport. In schools, one member of the management team per school plus two teachers for every four classes in nursery and primary, one for every three in secondary, and 50% of staff in special education and nurseries. In hospitals, A&E and the special units (intensive care, dialysis, maternity, radiotherapy and chemotherapy) ran normally; health centres outside hospitals kept urgent care during their usual hours, and duty pharmacies stayed open.

Where each service publishes its minimum services

What to do if you have to travel on a strike day

• Check the operator the evening before and that morning. The orders let operators spread the percentage unevenly over the day, so not every train or bus at your usual time will run.
• Avoid the peak if you can, and expect fuller trains and platforms than usual.
• Not every strike stops everything. A Renfe drivers' strike does not touch the metro or FGC; a general strike can affect all of them at once.
• If your train or flight is cancelled, changes and refunds depend on the operator: follow what it publishes on its website or emails you.
• Going to the airport? Check your flight with your airline or on Aena's Infovuelos, and the ways to get there in our airport to city centre guide.
• Travelling on Rodalies? Check today's notices for your line, read live from Rodalies de Catalunya.
• On normal days, see Barcelona metro and night bus hours and which transport pass to buy.

What parents need to know

When a strike includes education, as the one on 11 November does, schools do not close: the minimum-services order sets a minimum number of staff, and your school tells families what it can provide that day. In the words of the 2024 order, minimum services guarantee "un servei de vigilància i atenció" (supervision and care) for the pupils who attend.

School meals and school buses also get minimum services: in 2024, 50% of lunchtime and after-school staff, and school transport kept running to nursery and primary schools with no public transport alternative.

Data on this page last verified: 30 October 2026.

Keep reading

• Barcelona metro hours and night buses
• Which Barcelona transport pass to buy
• Barcelona airport to the city centre
• Is today a public holiday in Catalonia?
• Shops open on Sundays and holidays