What does the picket mean for residents and visitors?

Nothing is confirmed so far: no effects on prices, supply or opening hours. The general strike runs from 00:00 to 24:00 on Wednesday 11 November.

The Merca Las Palmas wholesale market, entered from the Cuesta Ramón in Jinámar, supplies more than a million people on Gran Canaria, Lanzarote and Fuerteventura, according to the agriculture ministry MAPA. ASEMERCA president Armando Rodríguez says deliveries were not really affected and the picket broke up at about 05:00.

Nobody has independently checked his account. The union CCOO reports pickets also at La Recova, at ports on Tenerife, Gran Canaria and Lanzarote, and at bus stations.

If you travel on 11 November, ask your airline or bus operator directly, as the transport details are unchecked. Which minimum services apply is not known.

CCOO and UGT complained beforehand of “abusive minimum services” (servicios mínimos abusivos). They did not say which ones they mean.

What happened at the Merca Las Palmas entrance?

About 150 people took part in the picket, from around 03:00 to just after 04:30, according to one report. An organiser ended it with a megaphone at 04:30.

A little over ten officers of the Policía Nacional (national police) came to the entrance and tried to hem the group in. After talks, they gave it more room to move.

At about 03:30 a group dressed in black, most with faces covered, blocked a lorry as a human knot, and a small police operation followed. The report also notes that police largely let the picket go ahead, especially towards the end.

Two officers asked two activists for ID after they put up posters on Tomás Morales. Two people filming this also had to show their DNI (national identity card).

What does the traders' association claim, and what is proven?

ASEMERCA president Armando Rodríguez described in a radio interview some 150 hooded people who sat at the entrance between 02:00 and 05:00 and shook workers' vehicles. He spoke of fear among the workers.

Rodríguez said the 50 euros were offered verbally: “Join us, we will give you 50 euros”. That offer appears only in his account, and the other reports on the picket do not mention it.

A worker told him about a woman with chains around her waist, which is second-hand and unconfirmed. Rodríguez also called the 12 to 15 police officers present too few.

He described the market as level 4 critical infrastructure, the highest security tier. The two accounts also differ on timing: Rodríguez says 02:00 to 05:00, the other report 03:00 to 04:30.

That report mentions an hour and a half without incident. It confirms face coverings only for one group of young people, not all 150.

How are the unions responding?

Javier Delgado of CCOO said of the picket: “We are within the law”. He called stopping vehicles and informing workers of their right to strike a union right, and he admitted officers had created “some obstructions”.

Borja Suárez, general secretary of CCOO Servicios Canarias, named stopping all production and all consumption on the island as the aim. CCOO Canarias regrets some police actions but calls the day normal overall.

The strike was called by CCOO, UGT, CGT, CNT, Solidaridad Obrera, CO.BAS and the Confederación de Sindicatos de Inquilinas (confederation of tenants' unions). They demand higher wages, affordable housing, shorter working hours and answers to rising living costs.

No union response to the 50 euro claim has been found so far. It is also unclear whether they will comment.

What does the law say, and what happens next?

Spanish Organic Law 5/2021 struck article 315.3, which punished coercion of non-strikers, from the Criminal Code on 24 April 2021. Under article 28.2 of the Constitution the government sets minimum services, here the Canary Islands government.

Police on the spot decide whether to step in at pickets. The courts decide criminal liability.

No arrests, complaints or injuries at Merca Las Palmas have been reported so far. It remains open whether ASEMERCA or the police will file a complaint and whether the 50 euro claim will be investigated.

Voting takes place on 29 November 2026, about three weeks after the strike. Business groups and some parties criticised the timing, and the government said it respects the right to strike.

No further strike dates are announced. Nobody has said more on what comes next.