Quartell's 35-hour work week sparks dispute between PP and local government
Quartell town council, in the Camp de Morvedre district, has cut its staff's working week to 35 hours, and the PP and the local government accuse each other of manipulating the move and shutting the opposition out of negotiations.
Quartell, a municipality in the Camp de Morvedre district, has cut its staff's working week to 35 hours, and the local government calls itself a comarca pioneer for doing so. PP spokeswoman Eva Vilar counters that no credit is due: between 2019 and 2020 municipal staff sought that schedule through 27 separate requests, all turned down at the time. The delay traces back to a national rule: a 2012 austerity decree raised public-sector working hours from 35 to 37.5, and each council has since restored the shorter week at its own pace, via its own negotiating table. Vilar also says her group was pushed out -"illegally expelled"- from the new negotiating body, despite a 2021 plenary pledge that reserved a seat for every group. The local administration replies that the law allows no choice: the Estatuto Básico del Empleado Público (Spain's basic civil-service statute) reserves those seats for the administration and unions elected in the latest union elections, leaving no room for parties -it adds the PP previously sat in only as a courtesy, without a vote. Mayor Cristina Marqués fires back, noting that no PP councillor has yet filed an asset declaration. According to El Periódico de Aquí.