Bilbao police and firefighters play ‘the dead’ in front of the City Hall
The joint concentration called to protest the imposition of the calendar and the poor working conditions has ended with a ‘performance’
Municipal police and firefighters from Bilbao have played ‘the dead’ on the steps of the City Hall to symbolize the “agony” of their respective bodies, in the midst of a labor conflict. The unions of the personnel board -ELA, LAB, SVPE and CC OO- had called a joint concentration at half past twelve, coinciding with the Christmas reception of the mayor, Juan Mari Aburto in the Consistory, which ended with a ‘performance’.
Several dozen agents and firefighters have entered the town hall with the intention of entering the Arab hall, where the event was to be held, but their uniformed colleagues from the Udala police station prevented them from doing so. So, they have decided to hold a sit-in inside the City Hall with shouts of Aburto kanpora and Amaia Arregi (the councilor for citizen security) resignation! The second group of agents who have tried to enter have been prevented.
Eight months of negotiation
Subsequently, already outside the Consistory, they have lied on the ground simulating “the death” of the body. Some wore white masks and SOS Udaltzaingoa signs. The municipal police officers complain about the imposition by the City Council of a five-week calendar that forces them to work more nights and weekly fines.
The unions and representatives of the Citizen Security and Human Resources areas have held twenty meetings over eight months, since last May, without making progress in the negotiations. For their part, the firefighters complain, among other things, that they must act as toilets at their exits, having eliminated the municipal ambulance that used to accompany them.