A hundred employees of the public company Serveis Mediambientals de la Selva Nora SA gathered this morning in front of the territorial delegation of the Generalitat de Catalunya in Girona. The protest responds to the complaint of internal irregularities and to the three disciplinary dismissals recently executed against members of the staff.
The UGT union describes these measures as direct retaliation linked to union activity and the complaints filed regarding the company's management. Three workers have been dismissed after a period of tension that includes the opening of workplace harassment protocols and the filing of lawsuits.
Antifraud fines €800,000 for irregularities
The conflict originates in the anomalies detected by the social representation in the selection, internal promotion, and hiring processes. Since 2023, management stopped negotiating the bases of these procedures with the committee, according to UGT, which brings together about 70 affiliates from a workforce of over 150 people.
The accusations include alleged hiring by appointment, assignment of arbitrary overtime pay, and a clientelistic use of public funds. The Office Antifrau of Catalonia already proposed a fine of 800,000 euros for these practices in selection processes and directive remunerations. A report published last summer interpreted that the company took reprisals against a worker who subsequently obtained the status of a protected informant.
"For the moment, three people have been laid off, but we don't know where this will end" - Maxi Rica, general secretary of UGT Comarques Gironines
The judicial situation advances parallel to the labor conflict. The union filed a lawsuit in December of last year and the trial is scheduled for September of this year. Of the three harassment protocols opened on the initiative of the workers, one remains paralyzed and another directly led to one of the now-denounced dismissals.
The mayor of Blanes assumes the presidency of the company
Nora SA is participated by the Consell Comarcal de la Selva and the Ajuntament de Blanes. This shareholding structure brings the crisis to the local political sphere. Martí Pujals, mayor of Tossa de Mar, also serves as president of the commercial company, which has motivated the union's political action.
UGT registered a motion in the Tossa de Mar plenary session to demand explanations from the municipal government regarding the company's management. The same initiative will be transferred to the plenary session of the Consell Comarcal de la Selva. The unions seek for the administrations involved to assume public responsibilities given the seriousness of the events.
"It cannot be tolerated that a public company uses files and dismissals to try to silence union delegates" - Lluís Lampurlanès, secretary of Community Services of UGT
The management of Nora SA rejects all accusations. It defends that its actions strictly adhere to the current legal framework and attributes the origin of the conflict to internal labor disputes initiated at the beginning of 2023. Despite this institutional defense, the union maintains its roadmap of mobilizations.
The trial for the dismissals will begin in September.