The Community sets minimum services for the public university strike

The Regional Ministry of Education, Science and Universities has established the essential minimum services that must be maintained during the strike called for November 4 and 5, 2026, in the region’s public universities. This is done through Order 4752/2026, dated October 30, published in the OFFICIAL GAZETTE OF THE COMMUNITY OF MADRID number 265, dated November 4, 2026 (reference BOCM-20261104-10), and signed by the regional minister Mercedes Zarzalejo Carbajo.

The strike was announced on October 23, 2026, by representatives of Comisiones Obreras (CCOO), the Confederación General del Trabajo (CGT), the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT), and the Unión General de Trabajadores (UGT), representing their members in Madrid’s public universities. The call extends to all teaching and research staff and all technical management, administration, and service staff of the public universities of the Community of Madrid; that is, it affects both professors and researchers as well as administration and service personnel.

Legal Basis and Negotiation

The order is based on Article 3 of Royal Decree-Law 17/1977, of March 4, on Labor Relations, and Article 28.2 of the Spanish Constitution, which recognizes the right to strike. The text also invokes the doctrine of the Constitutional Court regarding essential services and Article 27 of the Constitution to justify the minimum provision of the educational service, which is not limited to teaching activity but includes “the care, maintenance, and surveillance of the facilities.” The Regional Ministry acts as the government authority for the purposes of Article 10 of the aforementioned Royal Decree-Law and respects the principle of university autonomy under Article 27.10.

The conditions were agreed upon in meetings with the Strike Committee:

• October 26: University of Alcalá de Henares.
• October 28: Complutense University of Madrid.
• October 29: Autonomous University of Madrid.

What is Guaranteed on Each Campus

The second provision details the minimum services university by university and shift, with express coverage of the six involved campuses: the two of the Complutense University of Madrid and those of Ciudad, Externo, Guadalajara, and Torrejón of the University of Alcalá de Henares.

• Complutense University of Madrid: the manager and one person responsible for opening and another for closing in faculties and buildings; in the Security Control Unit, the director, 5 guards on the morning shift, 5 on the afternoon shift, and 7 on the night shift with the team leader to cover the two campuses; in the Veterinary Clinical Hospital, the manager, those responsible for opening and closing, and two people for the care and feeding of large and small animals; one person responsible for Animal Facilities and the Farm in the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and another in the Animal Facility of the Faculty of Medicine; one worker per shift in each College, with 5 reception technicians; and in maintenance, a plumber, a locksmith, an electrician, a thermal plant manager, and a driver.
• University of Alcalá de Henares: a member of the governing team, the manager, a member of the dean’s team or management of each faculty or school, one caretaker per building and shift for opening, closing, and access control, the director of IT services, one multi-purpose operator on each campus, and a technician from the Animal Facility Area.
• Autonomous University of Madrid: one person from the information offices per building and shift, with two staff members in Sciences, Law, and the Higher Polytechnic School, and one in Economics and Business Sciences, Philosophy and Letters, Teacher Training and Education, Medicine, and Psychology; one lawyer per day; one doctor and one nurse from the Occupational Health Service each day; and, in the Bärber Inhelder preschool, management, educators according to ratios of 12, 18, and 24 students, kitchen, and cleaning.

Control and effects

Managers and administrators must guarantee the opening of the centers and remain in them, and they shall determine by name, by the will of the workers or by lottery according to the schedule, the persons assigned to the minimum services, upon whom the information regarding the monitoring of the workday will depend. Non-compliance will be sanctioned in accordance with the applicable regulations, without the order limiting the rights of those supporting the strike.

The regulation takes effect on the day of its publication. Against it, which exhausts the administrative route, an optional appeal for reversal may be filed before the Minister of Education, Science, and Universities within one month or, directly, a contentious-administrative appeal within two months.

The order affects virtually the entire staff of the three campuses with the highest volume of students in the region and arrives while the universities are immersed in the academic year, thus specifying which administrative, security, health, and maintenance activities will remain operational during the two days of the strike.

Source: OFFICIAL GAZETTE OF THE COMMUNITY OF MADRID, no. 265, of November 4, 2026, section I.B (Authorities and Personnel), pp. 73-76 (official reference: BOCM-20261104-10, Order 4752/2026).