The external garbage collection services in Figueres have already cleaned 30% of the garbage at the collection points, all with the aim of reversing the unsanitary situation caused by the service strike. The mayoress of the city, Agnès Lladó, has detailed that she will continue working until the garbage accumulated throughout the city is removed while negotiating with the unions to restore regular service.
“We want the conflict to be resolved in the best way and that this benefits the city and its citizens, who are the ones who suffer the results.” This past Sunday afternoon, the City Council and unions met again to reach an agreement to put an end to this strike that the council considers “unfair.”
After a week of garbage strike, coinciding with the Santa Creu de Figueres festivities, the City Council has contracted external companies to remove the garbage that had accumulated on public roads. Specifically, 85 tons of garbage have been removed. From the consistory it has been assured that “it will not stop until the entire city is clean.”
The removal could be launched because the garbage accumulated in Figueres represented a public health hazard due to the unsanitary situation it caused. This confirmed a report from the Department of Health, which appeared in Figueres on Friday and authorized the City Council to take extraordinary measures to clean up the city. “We respect the right to strike, but it is also necessary to respect and preserve the rights of citizens regarding sanitation and accessibility to sidewalks and roadsâ€, explained the mayoress.
The unions called, Co.Bas and CCOO, have been demanding since Friday, April 28, when the strike began, to equalize the agreements of the two companies with which the staff that carry out the garbage collection service in the city are divided. These are Ecoserveis, the mixed company that manages garbage, and Fisersa, the street cleaning and lighting company to which some of the workers from the first company transferred.
The City Council considers that this pause in the garbage collection service is “unfair and arbitrary”. “The call was not made under the established protocols and we consider that its content is not within the current legal framework, because we are talking about two different companies,” said Lladó, who added that “now it is not feasible for the workers of a company take the agreement of another”.
In addition, the City Council has repeatedly denounced throughout the week of the strike “breach of minimum services”, which have aggravated the situation in the middle of a city full of “more massive” Fires and Festes de la Santa Creu than they have also accumulated much more waste.
The City Council assures that despite not agreeing with the reasons for the call, it does not close to negotiating with the unions. “The company has never gotten up from the table,” defends the mayoress of Figueres. In fact, this Sunday, May 7, a new meeting was held between the parties to try to reach an agreement. “The negotiations are still open because the labor conflict must be resolved”, Lladó has transferred, which also details that “the negotiations advance little by little” and that the will is that “the conflict be resolved in the best way”.
