The eternal crisis of IB3

PalmWhen the government internalized 315 IB3 employees on February 1, 2023, it began a process that should have ended more than two years ago—the agency's total workforce is approximately 450. The government took on workers who came from different companies and had diverse working conditions, inequalities that have yet to be resolved because the workforce integration process has not been carried out.

Today, the workers continue with the same conditions they had at the private companies that managed the news services until then, which at the time of internalization were Dalton Audiovisual, Videoreport CBM, VisualMed, and the joint venture formed by Telefónica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA) and Videoreport.

Mercedes Garrido, Minister of the Presidency, Civil Service, and Equality of the Pact, explains that the integration was left pending during the last legislative term because, once the workers were internalized, union elections were held to represent all of them. "The new staff already had the right to vote, and we could no longer negotiate with the company committees," she says. Thus, the pending work passed to the hands of Marga Prohens's PP Executive.

"It's not a normal company; it belongs to the Government. There are regulations regarding public companies, and people must be integrated into this system," Garrido continues, referring to salaries, working hours, employee vacations, etc. Former IB3 CEO Albert Salas took the reins of the integration process and reached an agreement with the workers in December 2024. Salas and the unions agreed on measures such as the creation of a new Job Description (RPT), the harmonization of workers' hours, a salary that would be the minimum of an established range, and a budget in euros.

During the negotiations, the Civil Service was informed at all times and made suggestions for modifying some aspects. "As much as they now want to distance themselves from the process, the Civil Service made requests during the year and a half of negotiations, and we were adapting to them," says Jordi Julián, president of the Mallorca Works Council. In fact, the new regional minister for Labor, Civil Service, and Social Dialogue, Catalina Cabrer, questioned whether, as planned, the completion of the internalization was legally viable. However, she later clarified—on IB3 Radio—that the government is working to achieve a "proper integration" and cited the Audit Office's report, which highlights deficiencies in internalization, such as the lack of documentation in many files. "I'm sure we'll start in September trying to resolve the issue as soon as possible," she added, also assuring that there's no turning back from the process.

Julián reiterates that all points of the integration agreement at the end of 2024 had the approval of the Civil Service, and that the General Directorate of Budgets and Financing was also aware of the negotiations between Salas and the workers' representatives. "We think they want to delay the process as much as possible because every day that passes is money saved," the union member points out, also emphasizing that workers are receiving salaries that "aren't what they should be" and that there are vacancies in the pension funds that "don't exist in the RPT." The only advance so far is the payment of a salary supplement—a Governing Council meeting in July 2024 was authorized while negotiations were underway—to reach minimum wages (the amount was 1.6 million euros).

Difficult, but not impossible

The integration process for workers who became IB3 workers more than two years ago is complicated, but not impossible, according to Lluís Apesteguia, MÉS spokesperson for Mallorca. "The internalization has already been done, and the PP didn't say anything at the time. It's no longer the time to debate whether it should have been done one way or another," notes Apesteguia, who believes the government "doesn't quite know what solution to implement" to make the integration effective. The eco-sovereignty spokesperson also points out that the government's budget "included a budget for the new RPT, despite the fact that it was a completely insufficient amount."

"The RPT must be adapted to the functioning of a public company. Workers must be distributed by levels, based on the education required for each position. This affects the base salary, the destination supplement, and the specific supplement [for example, some positions have night shifts and others don't]. Then there's the insularity bonus." Apestuía reiterates that "it's not impossible from a legal perspective" and asserts that he doesn't understand "the current pressures because they've never verbalized them." In fact, sources familiar with the process have explained to ARA Baleares that many of the problems now arising go beyond politics and stem from civil service technicians, who are reluctant to recruit public company workers without competitive examinations.

However, the Works Council emphasizes that at no point has the possibility of public radio and television employees becoming civil servants been on the table. "We have never negotiated civil service status without opposition. These are permanent employees," Julián points out, recalling that a 2022 Supreme Court ruling marked the internalization process for IB3 employees. The Supreme Court ruled that a worker who was internalized by Pamplona City Council should be considered permanent employees because she had been employed as a permanent employee by the private company that had provided the service to the Navarrese City Council.

As for the current general director, Josep Condony, he has assured that work has not stopped to reach an integration agreement, and has argued that the one at the end of 2024 cannot be implemented because "things cannot be done against the law" - as he told the IB3 Oversight Committee of Parliament.

For now, the last protest by the agency's workers took place two months ago, but there are voices within the workforce calling for another strike to end this process. "We're trying to make the final proposal to adjust to the requirements of the Civil Service. To move forward, the first thing is to establish the categories and ensure everyone is in their salary group," says Julián, who demands "requests for changes be in writing and that the legal reasons be explained."