The story of Sindicat de Llogateres that subsidized media won't tell you

Where did the Sindicato de Llogateres come from? Why do they keep appearing in subsidized media? Who is behind this self-proclaimed union? I'll explain everything about the Sindicat de Llogateres that subsidized media won't tell you in just a moment.

The Sindicato de Llogateres claims they don't receive subsidies, although they actually do. For example, they receive more than €5,000 from the Generalitat to publish their magazine, la Llogatera.

Regardless of that amount, the truth is that they basically survive on their members' fees. However, behind the Sindicat de Llogateres, we do find organizations that are funded with public money.

The two most prominent are the Observatorio DESC and IDRA.

Observatorio DESC was one of the driving forces behind the Sindicato de Llogateres in 2017. This is the same observatory where Ada Colau worked until just before running in the Barcelona elections and being proclaimed mayor. As mayor, she generously funded Observatorio DESC, which wouldn't exist without public money.

In 2023 alone, Observatorio DESC received almost €600,000 in subsidies, more than 89% of their income. That's quite something.

The other organization that founded the Sindicat de Llogateres is IDRA Cooperativa. Since its creation, Idra has received a large amount of subsidies. A few days ago, The Objective reported that in recent years they had received more than €1 million in subsidies from different institutions in Catalunya, including, of course, the Barcelona City Council.

Do you know who worked from 2015 to 2019 in the Barcelona City Council as a senior official in Ada Colau's Comunes municipal government? One of the founders and current co-director of Idra, Laia Bonet.

Both spokespersons that the Sindicat de Llogateres has had, Jaime Palomera and Carme Arcarazo, also work at Idra. As you can see, it all stays in the family.

Besides all this, the Sindicato de Llogateres has also been promoted by certain political parties. The most prominent are Comuns and CUP, but Esquerra and Junts have also done so. You only need to remember the joint press conference they all held together in 2022 in Parliament when the Sindicato de Llogateres had 3,000 members, which, to put things in perspective, is far fewer than the 4,500 members of the Centro Excursionista de Catalunya.

Finally, we have the ever-faithful subsidized press. To give you just one example, between 2018 and 2019, the Sindicat de Llogateres had about 1,000 members, that is, fewer than the Associació de Galtaires de Catalunya or the Unió Esportiva Olot. However, they were already being interviewed in ultra-subsidized newspapers such as ARA, El Punt Avui, or El Periódico.

In short, it turns out that we have a Tenants' Union that apparently is self-managed and doesn't depend on public money, but in reality, they do receive subsidies. Meanwhile, they are constantly being artificially promoted by ultra-subsidized organizations like IDRA or Observatorio DESC, by political parties, and by ultra-subsidized media. Look at that. If you're interested in the topic, I have a video with more information on the YouTube channel.