The city council proposes to strengthen the weekend services, when more crimes are committed and more events and activities are organized. Officers are concerned that pumping resources on weekends could reduce service and security during the week.
Euskaraz irakurri: Udaltzaingoaren sindikatuek Bilboko Udalaren “aldebakartasuna” salatu dute erabakietan
About 500 police officers from Bilbao demonstrated this morning in the capital of Biscay against the latest changes proposed by the city council to their working conditions. At 8 am, the head of Sabino Arana Street left and arrived at the steps of the Consistory at 9:30 am, where the plenary session started at 10 am.
The City Council proposes strengthen weekend shifts considering that it is on those days that more crimes are committed and it is also when more events and activities are organized that require the assistance of the municipal police.
According to the police unions, with the new calendar proposed by the Bilbao city council, the officers would still work 24 nights a year and six weekends.
however, the labor unions ELA, LAB, CC.OO. and SVPE (Basque Union of Police and Emergencies) assure that: the change of schedules and calendar is not the problem, and it’s just “the straw that breaks the camel” as SVPE’s Mikel Barreiro puts it in Euskadi Irratia. According to the union representatives “if the timetable has to be changed, it can be changed without any problems, that is not the point”, the problem lies in the fact that “the city council does not take into account the proposals of the staff and make unilateral decisions
They assure that the situations in which city officials have to intervene differ between weekdays and weekends, they do not deny that, as the city council says, crime is on the rise, especially on weekends; to be concern most important, however, is that by strengthening the weekend shift the service is reduced from Monday to Fridayrisk not meeting the security needs of the citizens of Bilbao.
They also protest because many of the major weekend events are organized by private companies and therefore they do not think it fair that the municipal police should be responsible for securing these events.
The changes to the terms and conditions should be “the last step” according to the unions and require “at least an earlier conversation”, which has not been given so far.
The May 31 a representation of the staff will meet with city council with the aim of starting that conversation and a negotiation. However, they assure that if there is no agreement or the city council unilaterally goes ahead with its plan, they will continue with the mobilizations.
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Source: EITB
I’m Wayne Wickman, a professional journalist and author for Today Times Live. My specialty is covering global news and current events, offering readers a unique perspective on the world’s most pressing issues. I’m passionate about storytelling and helping people stay informed on the goings-on of our planet.
