At the end of 2024, the salary difference between an ertzaina or mosso d’esquadra and a national police officer or civil guard could reach 8,251 euros per year. Now, after the latest agreement between the majority of the Ertzaintza unions and the Basque Executive, This gap will increase after agreeing to 4,200 euros more per year for each agent. Thus, after thirteen years of conflict, the ERNE, ESAN and SIPE unions reached an agreement that must now be ratified by their members. And although there is reluctance in other unions such as Euspel and “Ertzainas in struggle”, everything indicates that it will move forward.
The news has struck like a shot among the main police unions and associations of the Civil Guard that have been fighting for years for salary equalization in the face of the neglect and neglect of the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska. It must be remembered that in the Congress of Deputies, the PSOE has reached blocking on up to 18 occasions the bill that would allow early retirement for national police and civil guards, as well as its recognition as a risky profession. In fact, Pedro Sánchez’s Executive requested to extend the deadline for amendments to this rule to block and delay its approval, while urging the green light for the so-called “Otegi Law.”
A blow to the agents that came after the release of an official report, in which the Government assures that “the risky profession does not exist.” The Government sent a document to the Senate on November 4 in which it makes it clear that “the concept of risk profession does not exist as such either in the regulation of the Social Security regime or in that of the Passive Classes regime. It has its origin in Royal Legislative Decree 8/2015, of October 30, which approves the consolidated text of the General Law of Social Security, which provides for the possibility of lower the minimum retirement age by royal decree and through reducing coefficients for those groups or professional activities whose work is of an exceptionally painful, toxic, dangerous or unhealthy nature and involves high rates of morbidity or mortality.”
Marlaska’s lies, deceptions and maneuvers
However, in that report they forget to mention that belonging to a risky profession directly affects retirement, since belonging to this group gives you the option of requesting early retirement collecting 100% of the benefit. Not to mention that Marlaska himself had no qualms about looking the police in the face and sitting with them to “talk”, while hiding from them that had appealed the ruling of the National Court which forces you to comply with salary equalization. And thus a long etcetera of lies, deceptions and tortious maneuvers with the sole objective of not equating all the State Police.
Such is the contempt suffered by the agents that police unions such as the Spanish Police Confederation (CEP) and Equiparación Ya (EYA), make months that maintain a collective conflict with the Interior. This sit-in is now joined by JUPOL, which denounces the “constant lack of negotiating attitude on the part of the Administration.”
Keys to the Ertzaintza agreement
The Executive of Imanol Pradales (PNV) will invest 45 million euros in this new collective agreement, which will last three years. The most important points include, among others, the Minimum salary increase of 4,200 euros per year for agents; the equalization of productivity (night and holidays), as well as other complements with the rest of the Basque Government officials; increase in remuneration of Moscow days; mobile devices to respond to citizen complaints at street level; new permits, productivities and the implementation of 50 hours a year paid to care for family members sick or incapacitated.
But these improvements are insufficient for some of the unions. From “Ertzainas in struggle” they denounce that “they have been losing purchasing power for 13 years”. They insist that there are 6,800 agents doing the work of 8,000 and they feel that they have been “sold out.” Thus, they assure that the ertzainas are “very outraged.” Opinion shared by Euspel, who emphasize that this salary increase “consists of a linear increase of 4,200 gross euros in 2028not in 2025.”