General strike on 11 November: the BOE publishes minimum services for hydrocarbons, electricity, forest fires and RTVE

The BOE of Saturday 7 November 2026 publishes three ministerial orders setting the minimum services in the hydrocarbons, electricity and State forest-fire-fighting sectors on the occasion of the general strike called for Wednesday 11 November 2026, between 00:00 and 24:00. They are Orden TED/1179/2026, of 5 November (hydrocarbons sector), Orden TED/1180/2026, of 5 November (electricity supply) and Orden TED/1181/2026, of 6 November (State resources supporting the autonomous communities in forest fire fighting), all three from the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge. They join Orden HAC/1168/2026, of 5 November, published in the BOE of Friday 6 November, which sets the rules to guarantee essential minimum services at the RTVE Corporation.

The strike calls and their hourly scope

According to the recitals of Orden TED/1180/2026, the Ministry learned on 19 October 2026 of the general strike called by the Confederación General del Trabajo (CGT) for 11 November, with effects between 00:00 and 23:59, and on 20 October of the calls by Confederación Intersindical and by CCOO and UGT, the latter State-wide and extending to all salaried and civil-service activities, including Spanish Foreign Service staff. Orden TED/1179/2026 adds Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT), Solidaridad Obrera, ELA, LAB, ESK, STEILAS, Alternativa Sindical de Clase, Organización Sindical Acción Directa and Sindicato Comisiones de Base, as well as territorial calls by CGT in Andalusia, Ceuta and Melilla and, according to Orden TED/1180/2026, in Galicia.

The orders specify the hourly mechanics: in workplaces operating on shifts, the strike begins on the last shift starting before 00:00 on the 11th and extends to the last shift beginning that day even if it ends the following day; in workplaces with a single shift starting before 00:00, the stoppage begins at the start of activity and ends when that working day of the 11th concludes.

The legal basis: Article 28.2 of the Constitution and Royal Decree-Law 17/1977

All the orders anchor their powers in the same legal architecture. Article 28.2 of the Constitution recognises the right to strike and provides that the law regulating its exercise "shall establish the precise safeguards to ensure the maintenance of the essential services of the community". The second paragraph of Article 10 of Royal Decree-Law 17/1977, of 4 March, on labour relations, attributes to the "Government Authority" the power to adopt the necessary measures when a strike is declared in undertakings entrusted with public services or services of recognised and unavoidable necessity and circumstances of special gravity concur. The orders invoke the constitutional case law interpreting that reference - Judgments 11/1981, of 8 April, and 26/1981, of 17 July, cited by all of them; Orden TED/1181/2026 additionally cites 5/1986 and Orden HAC/1168/2026 cites 51/1986, both of 24 April - to the effect that the reference must be understood as made to the Government or to the State organs exercising governing powers.

The guiding criterion, expressed in Orden TED/1181/2026, is to harmonise the general interest with the right to strike so that the greatest possible number of workers may exercise it, limiting minimum services to what is indispensable to maintain the essential services.

Hydrocarbons: gas, LPG, refining and fuel supply

Orden TED/1179/2026 is the most extensive and detailed. To set the sector's minimums, the Ministry started from the proposal drawn up with the best available information for a similar situation - the general strike of 15 October 2025 - and from the proposals received from the main sector entities, consulted on 23 October 2026, together with a report from Enagás GTS, SAU, the technical manager of the gas system, also dated 23 October 2026.

For natural gas, the Enagás report sets four criteria: transmission and distribution networks must be available from entry or production points to consumers' facilities, with compressor stations operational to keep pressures above the minimums of the Technical System Management Standards; regasification plants must be available with sufficient production and storage levels for the safety of the facilities, the unloading schedule and the attention of demand, avoiding gas emissions into the atmosphere as far as possible; international connections must remain available so as not to affect flows with neighbouring countries; and underground storage facilities must preserve the integrity of the infrastructure and the operation of the system. The order recalls that the natural gas supply must also guarantee the gas needed for electricity generation, pursuant to Article 60 of Royal Decree 1434/2002, of 27 December.

The order also covers the supply of liquefied petroleum gases (LPG), in bulk and bottled, refining - where minimums are set with the aim of guaranteeing the safety of people and of the environment in highly complex facilities - and the supply of petroleum products, with objective criteria of geographical distribution of facilities and foreseeable traffic density. The specific percentages and staffing levels are set out in the order's annexes, facility by facility. The sectoral basis is Law 34/1998, of 7 October, on the hydrocarbons sector, whose twentieth additional provision frames the role of the technical manager, and its implementing royal decrees, which provide that stoppages by staff designated for minimum services are to be considered illegal for the purposes of Article 16 of Royal Decree-Law 17/1977.

Electricity and forest fire fighting

Orden TED/1180/2026 seeks to ensure that the supply of electricity, the safety of people and the safety of installations are guaranteed during the strike day. Orden TED/1181/2026 protects the State forest-fire-fighting device: Law 43/2003, of 21 November, on Forests attributes in its Article 7.c) to the General State Administration the deployment of State resources supporting the autonomous communities, and the order lists the contracts affected - fire-fighting aircraft, observation and coordination resources, the aerial coordination service and monitoring -, the public-service entrustments to TRAGSA and TRAGSATEC (operation of the preparedness, prevention and extinction device and maintenance of the "Hermes" cooperative data-exchange network) and the civil-service staff of the National Forest Fire Information Coordination Centre (CCINIF). All these activities are declared essential services for the community.

RTVE: essential service with a partial agreement

Orden HAC/1168/2026, from the Ministry of Finance, rests on Law 13/2022, of 7 July, General Law on Audiovisual Communication, which classifies the public audiovisual communication service as an "essential service of general economic interest", and on Law 17/2006, of 5 June, on State-owned Radio and Television. The order records a fact relevant to the negotiation: an agreement on the proposal of minimum services was reached with the representatives designated at RTVE by UGT and CCOO, but not with CGT, pursuant to the delegation made by the strike committee. The preamble underlines the twofold requirement of maintaining the essential service at the indispensable level and of limiting the fundamental right as little as possible, with an additional impact on Article 20.1.d) of the Constitution, the right to freely communicate and receive truthful information.

What a law firm should review this week

For labour advisers, the practical reading is threefold. First, check whether any client belongs to the sectors covered - hydrocarbons, electricity, fire-fighting resources, public broadcasting - and, if so, contrast the specific staffing levels in each order's annexes. Second, remember that minimum-service designations are individual and notifiable, and that a stoppage by designated staff is considered illegal. Third, watch the BOE in the coming days: in calls of this nature it is usual for other departments - transport, health, justice - to publish their own minimum-services orders before the strike date.

Frequently asked questions

What day exactly is the general strike?

Wednesday 11 November 2026, between 00:00 and 24:00, with specific rules for workplaces organised in shifts.

Which minimum-services orders have already been published?

Four: TED/1179/2026 (hydrocarbons), TED/1180/2026 (electricity) and TED/1181/2026 (forest fires), in the BOE of 7 November, and HAC/1168/2026 (RTVE), in the BOE of 6 November.

What is the legal basis of minimum services?

Article 28.2 of the Constitution and Article 10, second paragraph, of Royal Decree-Law 17/1977, as interpreted by the case law of the Constitutional Court.

Related reading

• Legal assistance in labour interrogations according to the CJEU
• Pass lists for the extraordinary Auxilio, Gestión and Tramitación processes
• AEAT group I2: provisional lists and 28 November exam
• Free legal training: official sources for lawyers

Sources

• Orden TED/1179/2026, of 5 November (BOE-A-2026-23370): https://www.boe.es/diario_boe/txt.php?id=BOE-A-2026-23370
• Orden TED/1180/2026, of 5 November (BOE-A-2026-23371): https://www.boe.es/diario_boe/txt.php?id=BOE-A-2026-23371
• Orden TED/1181/2026, of 6 November (BOE-A-2026-23372): https://www.boe.es/diario_boe/txt.php?id=BOE-A-2026-23372
• Orden HAC/1168/2026, of 5 November (BOE-A-2026-23325): https://www.boe.es/diario_boe/txt.php?id=BOE-A-2026-23325