Thousands of national police and civil guards take to the streets again this Saturday to shout loud and clear that they are “fed up with humiliations and lies.” Why do they manifest? By a dignified retirementfor being considered a risky profession, for salary equalization, for the loss of skills, for the amnesty lawdue to the controversial reform of the Citizen Security Law, due to the lack of human and technical resources, due to the repeated lies and non-compliance by the Executive of Pedro Sanchez and his Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaskabecause ultimately, they have plenty of reasons.
A demonstration, which will begin at 12:00 in the center of the capital, and which has been called by The Platform for a Dignified Retirement and Full Salary Equalization, which brings together numerous police unions and Civil Guard associations (SUP, AUGC, UFP, SPP, AEGC, UOGC, APROGC, AsesGC, IGC, UGC and AIGC). But they will not be the only ones, since other unions and associations that are not part of this platform, such as JUPOL, CEP, EYA or JUCIL, will also join the protests. In this way, it will be a unanimous cry against the lack of dialogue and the Government's disregard.
The straw that broke the camel's back, which has been overflowing for years, was the murder last February of two civil guards in Barbate. A crime that brought to the table a serious problem – the terrible conditions in which the members of the State Security Forces and Corps work – and for which thousands of agents took to the streets to make it clear that this murder represented a “turning point” and “no return”. The response of the Government and the PSOE was none other than to vote together with Podemos and independentists in Europe, against police and civil guards being considered a risky profession.
It should be noted that the decision not to include agents in the list of risk professions is also due to an economic issue. And, here is the key, since The fact of belonging to a risky profession directly affects retirement. In what sense? Professionals grouped in the so-called risk professions have the option of requesting “early retirement” by collecting 100% of the benefit. And this would imply an injection of money that the Government is not willing to assume.
Neither risky profession nor equalization
And if being a “risky profession” seems stuck, let's not mention the issue of salary equalization. Despite the increases in recent years, the salary grievance with the mossos or ertzainas remains abysmal, earning up to 20% less per month. But if we add to this the “tricks” of Minister Marlaska, the unrest intensifies. To wit: last January, the head of the Interior attended the Plenary Session of the Police Council with spirit and good words. There he dropped that the ruling of the National Court, which It forced him to renegotiate salary equalization with police and civil guards, it was not firm. Which hidden is that the Executive had appealed said sentence and that he refused, therefore, to renegotiate with unions and professional associations compliance with the salary equalization agreement signed in 2018.
From this platform they stated that the maneuver orchestrated by Grande-Marlaska was an “offense” to all agents and called into question “the attitude of a minister who not only refuses dialogue with the legitimate representatives of the national police and guards civilians, but also takes actions contrary to the necessary advances in the Civil Guard and National Police”. And all this, they pointed out, while they attend “stunned at new concessions to regional police forces.”
And what about decent retirement and the amnesty law?
Yes ok The Ombudsman confirmed this week that work had begun For police and guards to have a dignified retirement… there is still a long way to go. For the moment, while a regional police officer can retire at age 59 with 100% of his retirement benefit, a civil guard has to wait until he is 65 to avoid seeing his pension reduced. There is always the option of retiring early, between the ages of 55 and 58, but they would not receive the full pension. In short, state bodies would suffer a remuneration loss of around 30% and in the best of cases they would end up receiving a pension of 1,623.85 euros compared to the 2,819.16 that a police officer receives. Thus, a Benemérita agent or a retired national police officer will earn up to 12,625 euros less per year than a regional police officer.
In the political sphere, one of the issues that most worries agents is the loss of skills they are suffering. From the transfer of Pedro Sánchez to the independentists of Junts and that would affect their powers regarding immigration in Catalonia, including what happened with the Civil Guard in Navarra or the last of the occurrences that directly affects the Barajas airport. However, the most controversial issue remains the amnesty law and for which, as the unions have denounced, The only ones who would “pay” the consequences would be the agents sent to Catalonia during 1-O and the 2019 riots.
The other pending issues
And beyond the public sphere, there are many other issues that affect the daily lives of police officers. The fixed and definitive implementation of the sixth turn (6×6); updating the diets, which have not been modified since 2005; also updating the catalog of jobs, which they claim is obsolete; the right to strike of national police officers; protocols for the use of force and firearms or the reclassification of Basic Scale agents to Group B of officials.
Not to mention the loss of services and companies in MUFACE, which so much affects the treatment of serious diseases, as well as the need to increase the Social Action Program. The reform of the Citizen Security Law, which Sánchez's partners crave so much, the lack of personnel and material resources… and a controversial issue: the decorations law.