Valerie Racuthe spokesperson for Tenants Union who promoted the demonstration in Madrid and which encourages a rent strike composed of not to paycomes from carrying out a similar practice in Londonpromoted by a university union that earned more than double the minimum wage in Spain.
Racu was appointed spokesperson for the Tenants’ Union, which is mainly made up of networks, but which has an email contact via its website. For days, the union denied having any “spokesperson”, but that is how it was presented in different interviews in various media and podcasts. Just as he did in the United Kingdom, where he had various interviews, notably in Financial Times.
Valerie Racuof the union of which he is now a member, encourages what he calls a tenants’ strike, promoting non-payment of rent, and has clarified several times that “at the moment there is no need to do this”. He believes that “we must find a date” and obtain advice on how to carry out this strike, “to avoid negative repercussions“.
Who is Valéria Racu?
The young woman, 29 years old, originally Moldovan And Spanishhas been linked to the movements for more than five years the unionswith particular attention to the housing sector.
In London in 2020, she was co-chair of the SOAS welfare and union campaignsof the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. In the March 2019 elections he won a position and remained there until mid-2020, from where he encouraged one of these strikes for non-payment of tenants. He almost won 30,000 pounds by 35 hours per week in this position sabbatical. Well above the £22,000 minimum wage.
From there, three months after the start of the pandemic, Racou He has led various demonstrations to protest against rent prices. In the United Kingdom, the promoters And owning companies rental apartments have accepted a small discount for certain groups of tenants. The Sanctuary students did not make any reductions and this ended up leading to almost 200 tenants starting this operation. rent strikewhich is still a non-payment.
Example of “rent strike”
The example of London is not the only one to Racou uses in his arguments. The reality is that non-payment can cause real problems for tenants who support this initiative, as it represents a crimeand there are no regulations to carry out this type of strikes.
Racu says the strikes tenants “are allowed to enter USA“, even if it is not the reality of what is happening there.
Since 2022 they exist in certain cities, such as San Franciscoregulations for union to tenants, and allows them to carry out certain demonstrationsbut not default of rent as such. In fact, the tenants of 55 buildings in San Francisco They came together to demand improvements: lower prices for public services, faster repairs in their homes… The law allowed them to strike, but not to not pay.
He money that they had to pay, while their problem was resolved, was left in a state trust fundwho finally made the payment after reaching an agreement. THE the law protects tenants who wish to use common spaces to organize activities or invite advocates to speak to residents about their rights. Under no circumstances is non-payment permitted.
Even this law States Joined It presents a series of limitations, since it does not allow carrying out the actions described against owners who are not large owners. This requires recourse to ordinary justice, but this type of action cannot be carried out. default values.
In Spain, more than 90% of rental accommodation is owned by small landlords, so even if you adapted the American leu, what you expect would not happen. Racou. This is why he encourages the strike but “not yet”, because very serious situations could arise for those who support this initiative.
