Council workers are owed millions in overdue salaries and although they received a partial payment last week, life for many of them is tough.
La Linea’s council is verging on bankruptcy and new sources of revenue are scant despite the best efforts of recently-elected PSOE mayor, Gemma Araujo.
“This situation is unbearable,” said Jesús Gonzalez Aragón, Campo secretary for leading national union CCOO. “The workers cannot take this any more.”
“Next week we’ll have to add August to the list of unpaid months and there is no expectation of any solution in the short term.”
“In CCOO we are willing to call the workers to an assembly to take a vote on a general strike.”
Union leaders and a handful of workers have held daily vigils outside the Palacio de Congresos, where the council is temporarily housed.
They march toward the border and interrupt the flow of traffic in largely symbolic – the queue barely moves in the meantime – attempts to maintain pressure on the council to pay.
A general strike would represent a sharp escalation in the union’s tactics.
News of the strike threat drew a measured, but tough response from the council.
In a statement, La Linea’s council asked for patience from the workers and reminded them that they had been paid nearly E2.3m in the two months since Sra Araujo and her team took over the council from the Popular Party.
It also said that efforts were being made to finalise a second payment in the coming days.
“We understand that the workers are demanding the payment of their salaries, but at the same time they must recognise that we are meeting their demands despite the chaotic situation that we have here,” the council statement said. “This situation we have inherited from the previous PP council.”
“We’re trying to resolve it but it will take some time.”
Sra Araujo has announced plans for a deep reform of the council workforce, cutting both jobs and salaries in order to reduce an annual salary bill that nears E25m.
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