Between 200 and 300 mossos d'esquadra have gathered this Wednesday afternoon at the gates of the Palau de la Generalitat, in Barcelona, to demand a salary increase, the reduction of the annual working day and that once and for all they be financially compensate free availability and work on holidays. The protest has not had the expected influx, although the conveners have been satisfied because they understand that this Wednesday is the starting signal for others that will come if the administration does not attend to some demands that are not new.
The concentration, called by the unions SAP-Fepol, SME, SICME, Seime, CCOO, AfitCMe and the MosS.O.S collective, has not had the support of other union forces such as USPAC and the SPC, which have distanced themselves considering that A mobilization of these characteristics cannot be held at the gates of an election, because the claims are blurred by the electoral proximity.
The Plaza de Sant Jaume has been the scene of a concentration in which the police have displayed a banner with the slogan "It's time to collect" while throwing firecrackers and sounding sirens.
In statements to the media, the SAP-Fepol spokesman, Toni Castejón, has assured that the objective of the protest is that "once and for all" the agents of the Mosos d'Esquadra be given the retribution that they corresponds, equating it to other special services of the Generalitat. Remembering, furthermore, that the police are a group that requires more dedication, as for example with the terrorist attacks of August 2017, "where we all responded regardless of the hours" but never, neither in that exceptional case nor in other practically daily services" have been compensated.
Castejón has denounced that the Catalan government has breached labor agreements with the Mossos d'Esquadra signed as early as 2008, for which reason they distrust the negotiation and for this reason they have gathered to say "enough". The convening unions consider that since collective bargaining began in February 2022 in the Mossos, the workers' representatives are not aware of what measures the Government is proposing to improve their employment situation.
For the unions, it will be useless to negotiate measures related to permits or vacations now if no agreement has previously been reached on the reduction of the annual working day, or the increase in remuneration or economic compensation for availability or work on holidays. "We want proof, good words are not enough," warned Castejón, who hopes that the unions that have not attended the protest this Wednesday will end up joining: "The more we are, the more strength we will have."
