The workers of the Lloret de Mar City Council have launched protest measures due to the blockage in the renewal of the labor agreement, expired since 2012, and have warned that they will maintain the pressure until a negotiation calendar with real guarantees is set.
The response has been articulated jointly by all unions with representation in the council, CSIF, CSC Intersindical, SIP FEPOL, UGT and USOC, who demand the updating of the working conditions of the municipal staff. The workers' representatives maintain that the institutional gridlock has been dragging on for more than a decade and that, since then, no progress has been made in collective bargaining.
First measures in the local police and maintenance
The first decision already has an impact on two specific services. The local police have agreed to stop working overtime indefinitely, while maintenance services have announced that they will not take on shifts throughout the month of May.
The unions consider that these actions are a first phase of the protests. They assure that the situation does not respond to a specific conflict, but to a sustained deterioration of working conditions in the City Council.
The unions denounce lack of negotiation
The union representatives reproach the municipal government for a "lack of negotiating will" and state that the council has not convened either the police sectoral table or the commission in charge of renewing the agreement, despite the repeated requests made in recent years.
In their diagnosis, the lack of movement on the part of the City Council has prevented any real progress. They also point out that one cannot continue working with labor conditions approved almost two decades ago and place the accumulated loss of purchasing power since 2010 at more than 20%.
Claim of professional dignity
The social side frames the protest in a demand for "professional dignity" for the public employees of the municipality. The unions insist that the responsibility for the conflict falls on the inaction of the city council and demand an immediate response to unblock the negotiation.
In the coming days, an assembly of all municipal workers is planned to analyze the situation and decide on possible new actions if no progress is made. The protests will remain active as long as an effective negotiation is not opened on the agreement and the updating of labor conditions.