The Councilor for Human Resources, Purificación Dávila, took the floor in plenary to explain that her area does not pay the Carnival bonus to the Santa Cruz Local Police “because in 2021 there was no Carnival.” Meanwhile, the union representatives of the local security body stood up and turned their backs on the councilor during their presentation. A motion by the socialist Florentino Guzmán defending the position of the unions, which demand the payment of the aforementioned bonus, consolidated since 2005, was the scene for this silent protest. A complaint that the unions are going to take further, after the motion was rejected, since they advance that they are not going to sit at the negotiating table with the City Council, neither for this matter, nor for any other, with the consequences that for the day to day of the city the Local Police may have to stay out of any type of negotiation. Union sources point out that Full Moon, Halloween or Christmas itself are just around the corner and the City Council will ask for support and volunteers, as it does with Carnival.
Dávila defended that not paying this bonus is a technical and not a political issue. “It is the Human Resources technicians who have reported contrary to the payment of this bonus because, simply, there was no Carnival, and that payment is linked to the fact that there is”.
From the PSOE, Florentino Guzmán questioned the assertion of the councilor, recalling that more than two million euros were spent for the Carnival that did not exist, or that acts such as Put on the wig were promoted, for which volunteers were asked from the Police Local to reinforce the presence on the street.
From Cs, Matilde Zambudio pointed out that, “if Intervention has not repaired the invoices for parties related to Carnival, I do not understand that Human Resources refuses to pay a bonus that is related to the same party.” United We can delve into the same question, noting that there were numerous organized Carnival events.
Mayor José Manuel Bermúdez took the floor at the end of the debate to energetically defend that there was no party, and pointed out that “we cannot deviate from what the legal services say, and they say that it cannot be paid.” Bermúdez pointed out the possibility of consulting with an external body, such as the Consultative, and submitting to its judgment whether or not the payment of that bonus is possible, to find a negotiated solution.
The Local Police unions (UGT, CC.OO., CSIF and Asipal) issued a joint statement in which they rejected the municipal position and accused the Security Councilor, Evelyn Alonso, of looking only for political interests, since Although he internally defended the payment of the bonus, he voted in plenary to reject the socialist motion. “The trade union organizations are not going to allow the negotiated rights to be violated and to comply with the provisions of our law,” they concluded their joint statement.
