Ertzainas in battle. The name chosen by this group of Ertzaintza agents to demand a new labor improvement deal says it all. Some initially organized themselves via a WhatsApp group, but gained so many followers that they founded a Telegram channel, which currently unites around 4,000 agents. They make up almost half of the Basque police force (around 8,000), they call themselves the “asyndian movement” and have a decisive influence on the negotiations that the Basque Ministry of Security is conducting with the union of the headquarters from Erne, Esan, Euspel and Sipe. Ertzainas en Lucha managed to block traffic in the three capitals, demonstrated outside the permitted space in front of the Basque Parliament and keeps threatening to compromise safety devices during the start and passage of the Tour de France through Euskadi. “Without an agreement there is no tour,” they announce in their well-known protest actions. All the alarm bells have been ringing in the Basque government. Lehendakari Iñigo Urkullu and the sector adviser Josu Erkoreka fear that the actions of this group will have a negative impact on the development of the French cycle tour of the Basque Country and, above all, damage the image of the body.
The Tour will cover three stages across the Basque Country from July 1st to 3rd and will require the deployment of an unprecedented police force. Every day 1,700 Ertzaintza agents will participate, in addition to local police officers, gendarmerie drivers, firefighters, toilets… The force will cross 108 municipalities in these three days and surveillance will be required at 2,190 crossings. Mobility restrictions on roads and motorways will affect the vast majority of citizens. Holding the cycle race will be a major international showcase for the Basque Country.
Less than three weeks after the cycling peloton landed in Bilbao, the open labor conflict in the Ertzaintza is jeopardizing the safety plan of the Basque Ministry of Security. The collapse of the self-proclaimed movement without an agreement – there is no tour now renamed Ertzainas en Lucha – blew up negotiations the four unions had been having with the leadership over the renewal of an agreement passed in 2011 – union collective has asked to intervene as an “auditor” at Table 125, as the forum is called where the working conditions of the workforce are agreed. They are demanding a salary increase of 1,100 euros per month to bring their salaries in line with other local police officers in the Basque Country, as well as improvements in security, training, material provision and risk prevention plans.
Agents monitor a protest by Ertzainas during the Basque government meeting in Busturia on June 6. LUIS TEJIDO (EFE)
Even after 40 meetings, there is still no agreement. The Ertzainas have decided to take action. In the 41 years of its existence, the Ertzaintza had not experienced such a high level of tension. The tension is at its maximum. During their protests, the agents display a banner that reads, “Without a worthy regulatory agreement, there can be no tour.” 12 years without an agreement. Ertzainas in battle”. This is how they lined up on May 17 in front of the French consulate in Bilbao. It was another warning after the show of force a few days earlier when more than 2,000 agents managed to block traffic in Bilbao. They continued the protests and caused traffic chaos in the three capitals. Days later, a thousand civilian agents “dressed in mourning” appeared outside the headquarters where the government held its weekly council in Busturia (Bizkaia). They also gathered in front of the Basque Parliament and invaded the room intended to prevent the passage of the tram in Vitoria without the Ertzainas on duty doing anything to prevent it.
After that protest, given the way the pressure from the agents was mounting, the Ertzaintza political leader cried out to the heavens: “There are reasons to believe that this was unlawful behavior,” Erkoreka said. Your department has opened a disciplinary file. The consultant claims that the unions were “terrified and moved” by the actions of the Ertzainas en Lucha collective and gave in to their demands. The Lehendakari goes further, warning that the Ertzaintza, one of the symbols of Basque self-government, “cannot afford to lose the respect of society to which it pledges.”
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The major concern in the Ministry of Security is whether the agents’ mobilizations and protests, which have had a massive aftermath so far, will carry over to the days when the tour will take place in the Basque Country. The most combative Ertzainas have already announced that they intend to use the start of the race in France to defend their claims. Their latest protest for work improvements, attended by more than 500 Ertzainas dressed in white, consisted of a demonstration this Monday on the esplanade of the San Mamés field, the starting point of a cyclists’ march that ran along the route of the first stage of the Tour.
At that moment, Erkoreka called for calm several times and urged the unions not to be influenced by the union group and to accept the resumption of dialogue at the negotiating table. He recalled that most of the panel’s agents have a net salary of 2,500 euros per month and that the professional career approval in 2021 requires an investment of 21 million to be distributed among the 8,000 agents of the staff. For next Thursday, the fighting Ertzainas have again called for a rally in front of Parliament, “but without disturbing Mr. Urkullu and Erkoreka and complying with all their prohibitions,” as they announced on social networks.
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