Council workers in La Linea clashed with Spanish police as they blocked off the border yesterday in the latest protest over unpaid salaries.
The workers wanted to walk through the Spanish side of the border precinct – they were not trying to cross into Gibraltar - but were stopped by police.
“Today they charged at us with batons,” said José Porras Naranjo, regional secretary for leading union UGT. “They’ve overstepped the mark.”
At a press conference after the clash, Sr Porras and other union leaders vowed to keep up the protest and said they would again march on the border at around ten this morning.
The frontier crossing has become a flashpoint in the row over the salaries.
The workers have demonstrated in other areas of
La Linea but feel that
the protesting at the border helps draw attention to their cause.
Yesterday was not the first time they had blocked traffic there, but previous protests had been trouble-free and therefore shorter.
“We don’t want to prejudice the people of Gibraltar or anyone crossing the border,” Sr Porras said.
“But people need to understand what is happening in La Linea and tomorrow [for today] we will be going to the border again.”
“We will not be intimidated.”
Nearly a thousand council workers in La Linea have not been paid their salaries in over a month and have little hope for a short term solution to their situation.
As they head into the Christmas season, many workers are borrowing money from friends in order to meet mortgage payments and basic living costs. One woman wrote to her union saying her electricity had been cut off.
The workers have called for the Junta de Andalucia to intervene and take over the running of La Linea’s city council, which has debts of over E100m.
But the city’s newly appointed mayor, Alejandro Sánchez, has accused the unions of targeting the Partido Popular council as part of a political strategy.
He said PSOE councils in similar situations had not been targeted in the same manner.
Yesterday the unions rejected that criticism and said they were voicing the frustrations of a workforce that had reached breaking point.
“The situation is not just serious, it’s alarming,” said Jesús González Aragón, regional secretary for CCOO, another leading union.
“This has become unbearable and if the mayor and his councillors can’t fix it, they should resign.”
Another union leader, USO’s Sebastián Pérez, echoed the sentiment in vivid terms.
“What would you do if you opened the fridge and found there was nothing to eat?” he said.
Apart from their daily protests, the workers have also agreed to back strike action and are drawing up a calendar for the coming weeks.
