"This is a mess": the new concern of the interim workers of the Generalitat

BarcelonaThe after-effects of decades of abuse of temporary employment in the public administration have not completely disappeared. Although the Generalitat has almost closed the process of stabilizing the interim staff, this group continues to express concerns and doubts about their future employment. The Government assures that it has managed to reduce this anomaly and now only 7.9% of its 182,815 employees - Brussels required that it be less than 8% - are temporary, compared to 35.5% in 2021. During this time, 46,800 interim employees have obtained a position.

In December, the Generalitat announced the creation of a pool with which it will now select the temporary employees it needs to cover sick leave, provide reinforcement in specific programs or fill structural vacancies that no other civil servant wants, for a maximum of three years. This mechanism leaves out specific bodies such as teachers, social educators, firefighters and many others that already have their own pools, but it will be used for the general body of the administration.

The Generalitat expects that some 6,000 people will be hired, especially temporary workers who have been left without a permanent position as a result of the stabilisation process. Temporary employees affected by the transfer competitions that have been frozen for a decade and will be opened soon, in which a career civil servant can request their position and have them fired, will also be forced to leave.

However, this solution also raises doubts among some temporary workers, who believe that the new pool will contribute to the "deprofessionalisation" of the public administration. The reason is that once they start receiving them, the offers may be for work in departments that have no relation to what they had done until now, since it is considered that they carry out support and management tasks that do not require specific knowledge.

"It seems that in the general body everyone does the same, but it does not work like that. The quality of the services provided in departments that manage very specialised issues is at risk," explains one of these temporary workers, who asks to remain anonymous. Another worker with five years' experience in the Generalitat and who will soon lose her position warns that, if the appropriate profiles are not selected for each job, there will be an "overload" in the teams, since they will have to spend much more time training the new temporary additions. "This is a mess. Only part of the problem has been solved and, as it has been managed, it will lead to the destruction of the equipment and, therefore, the deterioration of public services. The idea of the fund is good a priori, but the machinery has been started up without making the prior repairs," says Anna Vergés, interim staff.

The CGT trade union section in the Social Rights department, the assembly of female workers in the Equality and Feminism department and the Catalan Institute for Women - who are particularly affected by the consequences of this measure on their teams - have already expressed their criticism in a statement and a group of people affected by this situation has been created. "This approach discourages profiles specialised in a specific area, who are forced to accept positions that do not fit their abilities or their work expectations," they complain.

Regarding these concerns, the Secretary of Administration and Public Function of the Generalitat, Alícia Corral, explains to the ARA that these basic positions do not have specific requirements - any degree qualification is enough to access them - and that there are already specialist technicians within the departments that control the specific areas. In addition, she stresses that the score according to which people are ranked in the pool takes into account whether they have passed a competitive examination, the time they have already worked in the Generalitat or their language level. "I understand these concerns, but they will cease to exist when it is up and running," says Corral, calling for calm. The exchange should be up and running in March.

Union disagreement

The temporary employment pool was approved with the approval of the unions of the sectorial table, but some in the ARA point out specific aspects of the formula that they do not like either. The general secretary of the Federation of Services and Public Function of the Intersindical, Àngels Torrents, rejects that generic positions are offered "when they are not" and says that her organization will propose that the pool have a specific character "for everything."

The delegate responsible for the autonomous sector in CSIF, Sara Villarejo, also proposes an amendment: "The pool offers a speed [to hire temporary staff] that did not exist before, but we think that it is not entirely correct." For now, the offers are assigned according to the order of points - you could be assigned an eight-month maternity leave;

The unions that are most aligned with the Generalitat's proposal are CCOO and UGT. Sources from the former recall that there will be a monitoring committee to propose changes once it is up and running. If necessary, more specific pools could be created. But the positive thing, they point out, is that it will be a more transparent and agile process than the one that existed until now. UGT understands the concerns of the affected interim workers, but insists that, although it is not perfect, the pool "is a first step." "We would also have liked them to be able to choose by department," they say. Even so, they seem to introduce modifications later if necessary.