Just in from Cadena Ser- the players' union, AFE, has announced what had been rumored for some time, that it plans to strike the first two matches of the La Liga season. They have been unable to reach a collective agreement with the league. The opening round of matches is due to take place August 20, so there is not much time to reach such agreement. The main issues I believe involve such things as the players being paid on time, but also such matters as vacation (the league proposes that playing for international clubs be counted as 'vacation', apparently) and also image rights--the league wants those to be controlled by the clubs.
We'll see what happens, but there's not much time to resolve this.