The presence of several dozen local police officers in the town hall's plenary hall created a tense atmosphere during the interventions of the opposition groups, who took advantage of the occasion to criticise the security policy of the municipal government team. The parties urged the mayor to engage in open dialogue with the representatives of the three unions that called for the protest rally last Thursday.
One of the union spokespersons explained to the media the main demands of the group: “From the Local Police we request, firstly, a modification in the shift schedule and, secondly, an increase in the specific supplement for colleagues who receive lower salaries, in order to eliminate salary inequalities between workers who perform the same functions.” The spokesperson added: “Currently, we have an obsolete schedule, in force since 2015, according to which we work five days and rest two. Later, it was adjusted to four days of work followed by three of rest. However, today we demand a system of six days worked and six consecutive days of rest, although in reality there would be five days of rest, since the sixth is a night shift.” The Local Police shifts are organized in seven-and-a-half-hour days during the day, and eight-and-a-half hours at night.
In response to these demands, Mayor Francisco García said that, since the requests were made, the municipal government has maintained an attitude of negotiation: “We have sat down to discuss on several occasions. Personally, I have been present at two of these meetings, even though I do not usually participate directly in the negotiation tables with the unions.” The mayor acknowledged that he shares some of the demands, such as the need to increase the specific supplement for the lowest-paid officers, since “it is not fair that two police officers who share a vehicle and perform the same tasks receive different remuneration.”
However, the mayor rejected the proposal to change the schedule to establish a system of six days of work followed by six days of rest, arguing that "this measure would be detrimental to the security of the municipality." According to García, the current schedule, which alternates weeks of five days of work with two days of rest and weeks of four days of work with three days of rest, allows officers to work 18 days a month and enjoy 10 days of rest. The union proposal, on the other hand, would imply working 14 days a month and resting another 14, which would result in four fewer days of work per month and 30 more days of rest per year.
