The Minister for Territorial Policy and Civil Service, Miquel Iceta, has signed with the trade unions CC.OO, UGT and CSIF the agreement on the Shock Plan to reduce temporality in public administrations, which will be approved by the Council of Ministers through a Royal Decree-Law.
The Secretary of State for Territorial Policy and Civil Service, Víctor Francos, has previously chaired the General Negotiating Bureau of the Public Administrations, where the CAAs, the EMFF and the trade unions are represented.
At the signing of the agreement, along with the minister, the Secretary of State for Territorial Policy and Public Service, Victor Francos, the Secretary General for Public Service, Javier Rueda, and the Director-General for Public Service, Isabel Borrell, attended. By the trade unions, they signed the agreement Francisco García Suárez, by CC.OO, Julio Lajas, by UGT, and Miguel Borra, by CSIF.
The agreement includes the reform of Article 10 of the Consolidated Text of the Basic Staff Regulations of the Public Employee (TREBEP), which will specify the cause and termination of the appointment of interim staff, only by four modalities:
- Per vacancy where it is not possible to do so by career staff with a maximum duration of three years from appointment.
- By temporary replacement of holders the time strictly necessary.
- For the implementation of programmes of a temporary nature, which shall not exceed three years' duration, which may be extended for a further 12 months in accordance with the provisions of the Civil Service Laws developed by TREBEP.
- By excess or accumulation of tasks with a maximum period of nine months within a period of eighteen months.
The definition of interim staff is also improved: the character of temporary assistance is strengthened by discarding any expectation of permanence after selection with publicity and speed; the causes of completion and maximum duration are defined; and non-discrimination between the legal status of interim staff and career staff is established.
A detailed analysis of the structural causes of temporality in public administrations and in each sector is needed to improve planning systems, so that the use of interim appointment or recruitment of temporary staff for structural functions does not remain.
For the selection of seconded staff, procedures will be put in place that respect the principles of equality, merit, capacity, publicity and speed.
In addition, the reform provides for the requirement for liability for non-compliance:
- Inability to cover a vacant post which has already been occupied for the maximum time by an interim staff member, unless the corresponding selective process is left empty.
- Establishment of a compensation scheme. The reform provides for financial compensation for the staff of the interim staff concerned.
Interim staff who do not approve selective temporary processes shall be entitled to a financial compensation equivalent to 20 days of their fixed remuneration per year of service, up to a maximum of 12 monthly instalments.
When the reform of the TREBEP enters into force, the maximum non-compliance will also give rise to the same financial compensation. The right to such compensation shall be effective from the date of effective termination and shall relate exclusively to the appointment of the person responsible for the non-compliance, and shall not be entitled to compensation for those who resign on voluntary grounds or are separated from the service by disciplinary measures.
As a matter of urgency, there are a number of reasons for the immediate implementation of regulatory reform:
- The EU has addressed indications to Spain about the need for structural reforms aimed at tackling excessive temporality.
-The Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan incorporates among its measures a new normative instrument with the objective of placing the temporality rate below 8% in all of the Spanish public administrations.
The reform of the TREBEP will only apply to the general administration sector of public administrations, with a one-year deadline for the adaptation of specific legislation for teaching and statutory health service staff. If, after the one-year deadline, the specific legislation in these areas was not adapted, the provisions of TREBEP would apply to such staff.