The libraries, on strike the week of Sant Jordi

BarcelonaThe libraries in the Barcelona region are starting a strike this Sant Jordi week. This Monday, workers from Barcelona's libraries will demonstrate from 6 p.m. at the Sarrià Library - J.V. Foix; Tuesday will already be a 24-hour strike; on Wednesday, April 22, they want to gather during the Sant Jordi opening speech in Plaça de Sant Miquel; on Thursday, Sant Jordi's day, they will demonstrate at Portal de l'Àngel, and there will also be performances on Friday coinciding with the municipal plenary session. From the 25th onwards, they will strike every Saturday indefinitely. This Saturday's call will be followed by both the centers of the Consortium of Libraries of Barcelona and those dependent on the Diputació de Barcelona, who agree in demanding better salary and working conditions.

The workers of the Barcelona libraries denounce "disdain" towards the collective and "poor management" by the Consortium and the City Council. They regret being left out of the collective agreement negotiation, "historic" grievances compared to public workers, staff "below minimums," and working days that do not allow them to balance work and life (long shifts, chaining six or seven days of work, and lack of flexibility and remote work). They also state that they are exposed to situations of violence without safety protocols and without them being recognized a salary supplement for attending to vulnerability cases. For all these reasons, the Works Council of the Consortium of Libraries of Barcelona has requested the resignation of the highest responsible person, the manager Ferran Burguillos, and the councilor for Culture and Creative Industries, Xavier Marcé.

This week, Barcelona's libraries are celebrating the Sant Jordi Dialogues. This Monday, the dialogue is between Donatella Di Cesare and Eudald Espluga in the auditorium of the J.V. Foix Library; on Tuesday, there will be Zülfü Livaneli and Burhan Sönmez at 6 p.m. at the Francesca Bonnemaison Library. Their managers have not canceled any of these events.

In the strike of the libraries of the Diputació de Barcelona, 280 libraries from the entire network are called to participate; it is a call solely from the CGT union. Regarding the strike of the Barcelona Libraries, led by the CGT and the Intersindical, 41 libraries are called to participate. If the City Council and the Consortium do not sit down to negotiate, the protesters have warned that they will "escalate the conflict" and that internally they are considering a strike coinciding with the study weeks prior to the selectivity exams.