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Sant Julià de Lòria approves 37‑hour week and municipal labour reforms

Comú adopts a package of working‑time, pay and organisation changes to tackle vacancies and retain staff after months of negotiation.

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Key Points

  • Introduces a compacted 37‑hour week, continuous daily schedule with 30‑minute break, reorganised shifts and extended citizen service hours.
  • Revises pay rules: marriage allowance cut, birth allowance increased; work beyond 40 hours won’t be paid extra under the reorganisation.
  • Measures aim to improve work–life balance, retain staff and reduce vacancies after months of dialogue with managers and staff.
  • Vote exposed opposition split (two abstentions, one Demòcrates councillor supported); council reported a budget surplus and tied reforms to restarting delayed projects.

The Sant Julià de Lòria communal council approved a package of labour reforms for municipal staff that introduces a compacted 37‑hour working week, a continuous daily schedule with a 30‑minute break, reorganised shifts and extended citizen service hours. The regulations also revise internal organisation and pay‑related rules, and include measures on social protection, responsibility allowances, legal defence and simplified administrative procedures.

Council leaders presented the package as measures to improve work–life balance and make employment at the Comú more attractive with the aim of retaining existing staff and reducing vacancies. Officials said the reforms seek to adapt working arrangements without a direct increase to salary grids and to streamline coordination between elected representatives and technical staff through a personnel commission and regular working tables. The council said the measures were the result of months of dialogue and commission work.

The rules adjust certain allowances: the marriage allowance is sharply reduced while the birth allowance is increased. The new framework also establishes that work beyond 40 hours will not be paid as extra under the reorganisation. Council proponents argued the changes will help reduce staffing bottlenecks that have delayed planned projects.

The vote exposed a split within the opposition group. Two opposition councillors, Josep Majoral and Mireia Codina, abstained, while Sandra de la Rosa — the Demòcrates representative on the council who took part in the commission that drafted the regulations — voted in favour. Demòcrates publicly defended De la Rosa’s vote, saying it was a technical decision rooted in her commission work and limiting the divergence to a management issue rather than indicating any broader political shift.

Majoral downplayed the significance of the divided vote, calling it circumstantial and saying the minority group had allowed freedom of vote; he warned that the difference should not be read as evidence of structural realignment between parties.

Municipal leaders linked the labour package to persistent recruitment difficulties and an ageing workforce that have left public job notices repeated and some posts unfilled. They said improving conditions and reorganising time were intended both to preserve or raise productivity and to make communal jobs more sustainable. Proponents also pointed to similar practices used elsewhere and stressed the reforms followed months of negotiation involving political leaders, managers and technical staff.

Alongside the labour measures, the council reported a budgetary surplus for the period and outlined capital investment plans contingent on resolving staffing constraints. Supporters said that reducing vacancies should allow delayed projects — including planned infrastructure works — to proceed.

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