The reason behind the contrast in the minimum services set in Catalonia and the rest of the State

BarcelonaDuring a strike, setting minimum services for various matters depends on the autonomous communities. This transfer meant that during Wednesday's general strike, very different criteria were decreed when assigning them. The clearest example can be found in Rodalies, where in Catalonia minimum services were set at 25% during peak hours and that there would be no service during the rest of the day. This decision contrasted with the one taken at the state level, where Cercanías services in cities such as Madrid, Seville, or Valencia were set at 75% during peak hours and 50% for the rest of the day.

The services decreed in Catalonia, however, have a reason for being and, in fact, were agreed upon two decades ago. Between 2005 and 2006, the government of the Generalitat, unions, and employers' associations sat down to negotiate fair minimum services that would serve as a framework agreement for when a general strike was called. The pacts were called cold agreements, as they were sealed at a time of few tensions in the labor sphere in order to avoid as much as possible any conflicting interests: as sources from the Department of Business and Labor explain, they were negotiated at a time when there was no “open conflict”.

The cold agreements

Specifically, three different agreements were reached in the country: for healthcare sector services, for transport, and for freight transport. Regarding the transport agreement, as detailed in the cold agreement signed on September 14, 2006, to which ARA has had access, services such as Rodalies, Metro, or Ferrocarrils, among others, should have operated at 25% between 6:30 a.m. and 9:30 a.m., and between 5:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. However, during the strike on November 11, these criteria were not fully met; instead, they were slightly more flexible: while it is true that they operated at 25%, the afternoon schedule was extended by an hour and a half longer than planned, and Catalan transport operated between 4:30 p.m. and 9:00 p.m.

In the field of health, according to the agreement of May 26, 2005, it was decreed that emergencies and treatments that could not be postponed had to be guaranteed, while the rest of the services would be maintained as on public holidays, “except for those centers where the staff is equal to that of working days, in which it will become 50%.” In primary care, it was also decreed that 25% of the usual staff should be present for non-urgent services, as was executed in the strike on November 11. It must be remembered that, during a strike, minimum services serve to ensure the functioning of essential tasks for the community.

The third cold agreement, signed on February 20, 2006, indicates that all freight transport will be stopped, except for the supply of essential products for healthcare centers and pharmacies, as well as the transport of goods that cannot be preserved for more than 24 hours, as was applied on Wednesday. Despite these agreements, last week Foment del Treball and Pimec expressed “surprise” at the minimum services in Catalonia. In fact, the employers' associations qualified the allocations as “extremely low.”

It must be said, however, that sectors such as education, social services, or citizen services do not have any framework agreement that regulates what their minimum services should be. In the case of education, this year in Catalonia, more relaxed services have also been agreed upon compared to the rest of the State. Specifically, in the Principality, one teacher was agreed upon for every six classes in primary schools, while in Valencia, one teacher was set for every four lines. In Madrid, although initially the Community government dictated one teacher for every 50 primary and infant students, during the same strike day, the High Court of Justice of Madrid suspended this proportion.