At the council meeting on Thursday last week, a motion presented by the opposition Junts Avançam was approved with the abstentions of the four parties that govern Pollensa town hall. This was to do with the so-called professional career bonus for public sector workers. There was a protest by some 150 town hall staff at the council meeting, demanding that bonus payments withheld in 2021 be paid. The town hall will now pay what is owed as a matter of urgency.
That was a satisfactory result for some town hall employees, but not all, as the police had their own beef. This was on account of agreements not having been kept to by the administration and an apparent lack of respect shown to the police by the mayor, Tomeu Cifre. A representative of the police said on Wednesday that “we are tired of being told lies”. “We are people, and as municipal employees, we deserve agreements being complied with.”
The timing of this was not the best. As well as the usual Sunday market in Pollensa, there are Palm Sunday celebrations tomorrow and there is also the Pollensa Half Marathon. The police were refusing to do overtime for this event. At least twenty officers are needed for the race. Only six could be guaranteed.
At one point, it was announced that the race would be called off, but the town hall and the Half Marathon Association issued a notice on Thursday to say that, despite the threat of a police “strike”, the race would be going ahead with “total normality”. The mayor had held an urgent meeting with police representatives on Thursday morning to discuss “positions” and a satisfactory resolution was being worked on. As with other town hall employees, the dispute seems to relate to the professional career bonus.