The Palma City Council agrees to raise the salary of the Local Police

PalmThe Palma City Council and the Local Police unions have reached an agreement that will allow progress in improving the organization of the force and the adaptation of their working conditions, after months of tension and protests. The pact, reached this Friday, incorporates a new bonus linked to driving emergency vehicles, with the aim of recognizing the special conditions and risk associated with this function. Additionally, a special dedication bonus is added, intended to reflect the sustained increase in workload in recent years.On the other hand, the City Council has committed to studying the inclusion of weekends and holidays within the specific bonus. Overall, the City Council estimates that the implementation of the plan will have an impact of 10 million euros and could mean increases of more than 2,500 euros gross per month in bonuses.The agreement comes after the force's latest demonstration, in which a hundred officers walked the streets of the city while Cort maintained that there was a "firm proposal". Over the last four months, the unions had intensified protests against the mayor, Jaime Martínez, for failing to meet the commitment to approve the plan by January 1st.Tension reached a peak with internal changes in the City Council, when Llorenç Bauzà took over Public Function, replacing Mercedes Celeste, and the direction of the Local Police. After an initial meeting with Bauzà, now as the highest responsible for the areas involved in developing the plan, the unions considered that the change of personnel had been futile. "The plan remains blocked," they declared.the unions considered that the change of personnel had been futile. "The plan remains blocked," they declared.

Since the beginning of the legislature, Martínez's nods to the Local Police have been constant. Among other improvements, the City Council has promoted different public employment offers that foresee the progressive incorporation of 325 agents until 2027. It has also allocated the largest budget in its history to the Citizen Security area, with 136 million euros.The unions with representation in the force –CSIF, CCOO, UGT, SPPM/SPPME and ATAP– participated in Friday's meeting, with whom measures have been agreed to adapt the remuneration supplements to the current reality of police service.Together with this set of measures, both parties have committed to convening working groups, in which unions, Public Function managers and Local Police managers will participate, with the aim of continuing to promote the police model initiated at the beginning of the legislature."Minimum agreement"

The CCOO union representative Chema Hidalgo, explained in statements to Europa Press, that it is a "minimum agreement" reached in a meeting this Friday. "The demonstration on Wednesday did not sit well with the City Council and, a little pressured, they urgently contacted us to try to reach this minimum agreement, to bury the hatchet and achieve social peace," he said.Although he acknowledged that this is not the agreement the unions aspired to "by a long shot," they have viewed favorably the inclusion of salary supplements that they had been requesting for "a long time," such as the one related to driving vehicles. "We have accepted as long as the hourly equalization is not left behind; that it be implemented in most units, although not all, because it is impossible. In successive meetings we will be closing these loose ends," Hidalgo pointed out.The CSIF representative in Palma, Agustín Sánchez, argued that, beyond the salary and organizational improvements, “the agreement is to continue negotiating”. "It is one more step, but many are missing. Among our demands is still the issue of police organization," he stressed. The unionist admitted that the agents and the City Council had "distanced themselves a bit" as a result of last Wednesday's demonstration, but that they have closed a pact that is beneficial for everyone.