The union Plataforma Sindical Unitaria de la Guàrdia Urbana de Badalona (GUB) has denounced the persecution suffered by its militants and members of the union leadership by the commanders of the police leadership, all of them attached to another union. They assume that this harassment is intensifying after the Prosecutor’s Office has opened an investigation for the improper collection of allowances by the heads of the Guàrdia Urbana.
The PSU focuses “the persecution of agents who are not affiliated with the headquarters union” with formulas such as the opening of arbitrary and unjustified files “based on manipulated accounts and aimed at monitoring and persecuting certain agents.” In addition, remember that the police officers who have joined the command union do not “have open files and may have job improvements such as opting for transfers to the best units” while dissenting agents, especially those who participate in mobilizations, see how unit changes are imposed on them “that affect their schedule and remuneration” arbitrarily and without justifying.
Last November 2021, the PSU prepared a report on the irregularities committed by the heads of the Guàrdia Urbana regarding the collection of overtime and bonuses. The Councilor for Human Resources, Manuel Sorribas, who has also been denounced by the union of managers for allegedly hiding files, raised the case to the Department of the Interior of the Generalitat, which has led to the opening of an investigation in the Prosecutor’s Office. “It is scandalous that the bosses, for years, have been charging between 1,000 and 1,500 euros each month, more than their fair share.”
This type of union complaint, according to the PSU, in defense of its members and the Guàrdia Urbana itself, has resulted in persecution, for example “for exercising a basic right such as the right to demonstrate.” All of this, according to the platform, has an impact on the work environment in the GUB, which “is not the most suitable for workers”. They talk about promotions and horizontal mobility based on union affinity or friendship, instead of objective criteria such as seniority, merits and ability, as stated in the Local Police Law, which turns the force into a controlled and manipulated body.
