Ara Balears in English - regulation

One contract, 4,000 authors

Sebastià Portell — Thu, 30 Jul 2026 05:37:45 +0000

Not in hospitality, nor in education, nor in administration: I don't know if there are many professional fields in which people dedicated to a trade have such limited negotiation possibilities as our writers and translators. Directive (EU) 2019/790, on copyright in the digital single market, already recognizes in its preamble the vulnerable situation in which we find ourselves when improving our conditions, an aspect that the European Commission invites each country to resolve and which, in Spain, for now, barely seems a utopia.Certainly, it could be much simpler: most professionals in other trades have clear regulations and are legitimate in unionizing and negotiating specific conditions, which end up translating into what we know as collective agreements. However, current state legislation does not recognize literary authors as workers, but as mere holders (and hey, that's no small thing!) of their intellectual property. That is, as authors of works that generate rights, the exploitation of which brings economic benefits to these authors. But not through an employment contract, like other professionals, but through an author's rights assignment contract, which recognizes us with various rights, but not our evident status as workers. Within this framework, authors can associate and fight together for our conditions, as long as we do not exceed the limits set by the Competition and Free Market Law: that is, recommending or suggesting percentages of royalties and translation fees. Therefore, we can negotiate everything... Except for the most essential aspect of our work, which is remuneration!This is why I consider it so important that the representative entities of more than 4,000 authors from all over the Catalan Countries have united to defend the same contract model, drawn up by the Association of Writers in the Catalan Language (AELC) and presented last December. From now on, the writers, translators, and playwrights represented by the Col·legial Association of Writers of Catalonia (ACEC), PEN Català, the Professional Association of Translators and Interpreters of Catalonia (APTIC), the three playwriting entities of the Principality, the Valencian Country, and the Islands, and the AELC will have the same frame of reference, with the same starting point when defending our rights. It is, of course, a blind contract, without proposals or suggestions on the points where percentages and fees should be discussed, but I am convinced that the framework of this contract will represent an advance in aspects such as transparency, clarity, and balance between the two parties.No consensus among authors had ever been so great, neither at home nor in the State. Now all that remains is for the publishers to take joint responsibility, and for them to be encouraged, at the very least, to talk about it, something that the Publishers' Guild of Catalonia has so far flatly refused to do. We would all benefit.

The TSJIB knocks down the modification of the Palma galleys regulation due to a procedural defect

ARA Balears — Thu, 28 May 2026 16:33:15 +0000

The Superior Court of Justice of the Balearic Islands (TSJIB) has declared the partial modification of the municipal regulation for the urban transport service of passengers with animal-drawn vehicles in Palma, popularly known as galeras, to be contrary to the law. The Contentious-Administrative Chamber considers that the Palma City Council omitted a mandatory gender impact assessment report, which determines the nullity of the approved modification.

"What do you want a certificate for? Without papers, we are all vulnerable"

Anna Mascaró — Sat, 25 Apr 2026 15:46:29 +0000

More than 30,000 undocumented immigrants in the Islands now have the possibility to emerge from invisibility. Since April 16, long queues at town halls have become the image of the extraordinary regularization driven by the Spanish government. They have been preparing documentation for months, but until the last minute they did not know that they would also need a vulnerability certificate, and that explains, in part, the system's saturation. "I don't understand why they want it, if all of us who are undocumented are vulnerable," reflects Abdou, a 32-year-old Senegalese man. Despite this, the priority is clear. "Even if we have to lose days of work: papers are papers," assures Khalid.

Lives and rights at stake in the midst of a political battle

Editorial ARA Balears — Sat, 25 Apr 2026 15:21:52 +0000

The extraordinary regularization of immigrants has become a new front of political confrontation between the State government and various right-wing autonomous executives, including that of the Balearic Islands. The debate, legitimate in a democracy, is today a war of attrition that runs the risk of dehumanizing a reality that affects thousands of people. In the Islands, it is estimated that more than 30,000 people could benefit from this process. These are not abstract figures, they are lives that depend, to a large extent, on being able to escape administrative irregularity.

The PP town councils in the Balearic Islands request the suspension of migrant regularization "due to the chaos it causes"

ARA Balears — Fri, 17 Apr 2026 08:52:49 +0000

The PP mayors of the Balearic Islands have called this Friday for the suspension of the extraordinary regularization of migrants due to the impact that, as they claim, it is having on the town councils. They consider that the process has generated situations of collapse in municipal services from day one.

Menorcan entities demand the annulment of the Linguistic Use Regulations of the Consell de Menorca

ARA Balears — Sat, 31 Jan 2026 14:56:53 +0000

Acción Cultural de Menorca and Plataforma per la Llengua have presented, in an event open to the public, the allegations to the modification of the Regulation of Linguistic Uses of the Consell Insular de Menorca.