The faculty and students of the Institut Llobregat, in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, mobilized this Monday, April 27, to denounce an "administrative collapse" due to lack of staff in the secretariat. The protest takes place at the center located on Enric Prat de la Riba street, at a particularly sensitive time due to the pre-registration and enrollment period.
The situation worsened after the administrative assistant position became vacant last March 12 and, as of today, remains without immediate coverage. The center's forecast is that this vacancy will not be covered until after May 15, which would leave the institute several weeks without the minimum resources to carry out the open procedures.
The center denounces a lack of staff dragged on for years
In the manifesto disseminated by the staff, the problem is defined as structural and is located in the 2017 2018 academic year, when the institute specialized in Vocational Training. Since then, always according to that writing, the administrative staff went from two people to a single one despite the increase in the training offer and the workload.
The center maintains that it must assume a high volume of documentary procedures linked to academic records, historical archives, certificates, degrees or documentation related to access tests. To that are added procedures related to newly arrived students and with administrative regularization processes.
"It's already been over a month that we don't have a secretary" - Pepe Herranz, mechanics professor
Herranz also conveyed the direct impact that this absence has on the daily lives of teachers and students. "Literally there is no one to do it. So, how can we have students like that?", he lamented.
The teaching staff also assumes concierge duties
The staff assures that the lack of personnel is not limited to the secretariat. The same teacher reported that the center also currently does not have a concierge service and that it is the teachers themselves who are covering those functions.
"We take hours from the shifts and we have to be locked in the concierge's booth" - Pepe Herranz, mechanics professor
As a tutor, Herranz remarked that any procedure requires secretarial support and that they are now overwhelmed. He also pointed out that they need that support to manage scholarships and the rest of the administrative procedures linked to the students.
Partial stoppages and traffic cuts on d"Enric Prat de la Riba street
The workers' assembly demands the immediate coverage of the vacancy, adequate training for the new staff, and that the creation of a second administrative assistant position be urgently evaluated. While solutions do not arrive from the administration, the center has activated a calendar of mobilizations.
The protests include partial strikes and traffic cuts each working day on d'Enric Prat de la Riba street, in two specific time slots. They take place from 12:00 to 12:30 hours and from 17:30 to 17:45 hours.
The conflict extends to other FP centers of L'Hospitalet
The discomfort has also been reflected in the Institut Provençana, which has announced the suspension of the in-person open days for the training cycles scheduled for May 6 and 13. In a statement disseminated on social media, the center framed that decision within a collective will to highlight the educational quality and the current needs of Vocational Training, while demanding more resources and better conditions.
The municipal group of L"Hospitalet en Comú Podem has also joined the conflict, expressing its support for the mobilizations and demanding immediate solutions in view of the administrative collapse. The party maintains that the lack of staff is putting at risk both the health of the workers and the quality of the public service at a key moment of the school calendar.
The protest remains open in the midst of the administrative campaign for access to studies and with two reference institutes in L"Hospitalet's FP demanding reinforcements. At the Institut Llobregat, they maintain daily mobilizations awaiting the vacancy to be filled and for the administration to give a response to some shortcomings that the staff already considers unsustainable.