Train drivers, police officers, and tax inspectors boycott the transfer of state funds to Catalonia.

BarcelonaIn extremis, Sunday night The majority unions called off the strike of commuter train drivers following an agreement with the Ministry of Transport and the Government for the new operator of that rail service to ultimately be a subsidiary of Renfe, at least for two years. On Thursday, several unions from the National Police and Civil Guard called—without much success—a demonstration in front of the Spanish government's delegation in Barcelona to protest the delegation of immigration powers. Aside from the quorum, these two examples describe the rejection generated among state officials by the various transfers that the Spanish government has agreed to with ERC and Junts. This opposition was predictable, but threatens to boycott the agreements until the very end.

The demands among state workers are cut from the same cloth in most cases: they see the working conditions acquired until now within the framework of Spanish legislation—which the Generalitat has guaranteed will be maintained—in jeopardy and oppose Catalonia being segregated from the state civil service network. One example can be found in the demands of Renfe train drivers. To call off Monday's strike, the unions demanded the maintenance of their current labor rights, applying the current collective bargaining agreement. They wanted assurances that key issues such as seniority and mobility between different territories within the state would not be affected. According to a report published this Friday, BE Catalonia, train drivers earn an average of 58,000 euros and can retire at 62. With the creation of a Renfe subsidiary to manage the Cercanías service, the workers considered that their demands were met.

80% of the drivers who drive commuter trains come from the rest of the State, according to data provided by The Newspaper And confirmed by the ARA (Argentine Workers' Union) from sources within the UGT (United Workers' Union), more than 90% of these workers are experiencing mobility after their initial contract, meaning they decide not to stay and work permanently in Catalonia. Precisely, one of the points on the table between the Spanish and Catalan governments, and the ERC (Republican Left) is that this mobility be guaranteed after the two-year transition period, when the new commuter rail operator should become an independent company under the control of the Generalitat (Catalan regional government), according to the Republicans. However, Semaf, Renfe's majority union, adds that mobility is not the workers' only concern; rather, they are concerned about not wanting to leave the company, because they believe it offers more "advantages," not only in terms of territorial mobility but also in terms of the functions they perform.

The tax inspectors

The situation is similar in the case of the tax inspectorsSources from the Spanish Tax Agency explain that Catalonia and the Canary Islands are the traditional destinations for civil servants from across the country beginning their careers. However, when they can, they decide to return to their home territories, and therefore, Catalonia becomes a transit territory for them. When consulted by ARA, the Gestha union, which represents tax inspectors, provides figures: only 10% of the approximately 1,800 tax inspectors in the State come from Catalonia. However, Catalonia is one of the first destinations for many of them when they apply for a position. According to Gestha, nearly 20% will end up requesting a transfer, mainly to return home.

According to the union's own data, in the last transfer competition, 94 of the 377 inspectors working in Catalonia requested a change of territory, representing 25% of the total. The proportion is similar for technicians: 420 of the nearly 1,500 technicians working in Catalonia have left in this same competition, representing 28% of the total.

Given these figures, Gestha is reluctant to agree to a pact to change the financing model in Catalonia, because they consider that it "does not respond to principles of tax efficiency": "The transfer of taxes to the Catalan Tax Agency would necessarily imply a transfer of personnel, technical resources, and databases, as in the rest of Spain," point out union sources, who call for "institutional collaboration" between the two tax agencies and for new employees of the Catalan Tax Agency to be paid the same as state civil servants. More forcefully, the Association of State Tax Inspectors (IHE), which brings together the highest corps of inspectors, is completely opposed to the Catalan Tax Agency assuming the management of all taxes because they believe it goes against the Constitution and would entail a "fractionation" of it.

The transfer of Mossos d'Esquadra

The opposition of Spanish police unions to sharing immigration responsibilities with the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police) is not due to working conditions, but rather because they believe it would take away their power. This complaint was already voiced by the National Police and Civil Guard during the deployment of the Mossos d'Esquadra force throughout Catalonia in the 1990s, after the State ceded security responsibilities to the Catalan police.

"At the beginning [in the 1980s], it didn't scare anyone," Miquel Sellarès, who was Director General of Citizen Security for the Catalan government between 1983 and 1984, told ARA. He also believes that the state police forces were probably not "aware" of the magnitude of the agreement. Sellarès differentiates that situation from the current one, because in the 1980s, Catalan autonomy was just developing. However, as the Mossos d'Esquadra assumed greater functions, opposition grew. This was the case with traffic responsibilities. There was no direct transfer of state officers to the Catalan police force, but rather new calls were issued to incorporate new officers, and a window was opened for Civil Guards who wanted to apply—the officers who joined the Mossos d'Esquadra did so knowing they would receive better services. However, this did not prevent resistance from the state police forces. Jaume Bosch, one of the people who was also involved in the early stages of the Catalan police model's deployment, asserts, however, that the opposition was much less than what they expressed when the Navarre regional police force also assumed this responsibility.