They are clear. Continuing to wait is no longer an option because the commitment of the Ministry of the Interior to the national police is “zero.” It was of no use that thousands of agents and civil guards took to the streets on March 16 to show their displeasure against an Executive, that of Pedro Sanchezand a minister, Fernando Grande-Marlaskawhich again and again are also limited to “humiliate”, “ignore” and “dismiss” their claims. A situation that continues over time and for which the Spanish Confederation of Police (CEP) has not attended the meetings called by the General Directorate of the Police for two and a half months.
“Because the same people who receive medals for our work, those who repeat a thousand times that we are essential to society, are the same ones who do not lift a single finger to improve our professional conditions,” the union denounces. Thus, They have said “enough” and have registered a collective conflict, which involves holding an extraordinary plenary session of the Police Council. The objective is to get Marlaska to stop throwing the ball around and explain how and when the improvements demanded by the agents will be carried out, the same ones who took to the streets together less than twenty days ago.
On the table: dignified retirement, salary equalizationl, be recognized risk profession, greater legal and physical protection for agents…and an endless number of pending issues for which the union of all unions seems necessary. “The Ministry of the Interior says that they are debating in a working group how to improve our pensions and consider us a risky profession. But it does not say that on February 28 the PSOE abstained in the vote in Congress that supported giving us that consideration ; nor that on April 3 they did the same in the Senate; nor that They tried to boycott the CEP petition in Europe in this area, which, despite them, went ahead on March 19,” they reproach the Executive.
The “false” salary equalization
But they are not the only issues for which the Sánchez Government has stuck out its chest, with a half-truth. “Marlaska says that there are more police officers than ever and that We charge 38% more than before equalization. But it does not say that it refuses to fully execute the agreement signed with National Police unions and Civil Guard associations in 2018 and that A 2023 ruling has been appealed in the National Court, which forced him to sit with us again. The reality is that they do not want to advance even one millimeter in equalization,” they say from the CEP.
And we go on. As far as the security of the agents is concerned, it must be remembered that in 2023 there were 1,400 attacks per month against police officers and civil guards, “without anyone stopping this deterioration of the principle of authority in the streets.” What's more, far from taking measures to solve the problem, they announce that They will cut the Organic Law for the Protection of Citizen Security, called by some left-wing parties “gag law”, an essential rule for agents' work on the street. Not to mention that the Executive has not yet complied with the ruling won by this union in February in the Supreme Court and that forces it to hire a civil liability insurance for police officers.
The blow of retirement
“It is time to demand a Police in which retirees are respected and honored (with better pensions). In which the risk and sacrifice of decades of service with early retirements without loss of purchasing power. In which salaries are improved to be on par with other Security Forces. In which thousands and thousands of taser guns are purchased, among other material, to be more protected on the streets. And in which the police and their rights are an absolute priority for our rulers,” they claim from the CEP.
However, this union is aware that For the collective conflict to be effective, the union of all unions is necessary., since they only have two of the fourteen members that make up the Police Council. “Excuses are no longer useful. Neither for us nor for those who retire every month and suffer the blow of retirement on their payrolls,” they explain, but not before adding that the agents will not understand that the unions continue acting “as if nothing will happen”.