An agreement for interns of theaters leaves out temporary technicians

It is an agreement that has been in the making during the last fifteen days and that is included within the stabilization process of temporary employment in the field of Public Administration. This agreement does not affect temporary theater workers, who have been in open conflict since July, but only applies to those workers who occupy long-term interim positions or positions won by sentence and that are considered indefinite, not fixed. “These are very few places,” advances Carlos Sierra, a member of the Platform of Technicians and Technicians Affected by the 2018 Public Employment Offer and a worker of the National Classical Theater Company.

“It is about being able to lower the temporary rate of workers at INAEM, which is a lot,” explains the UGT representative, Javier Figueroa. “The Ministry of Culture and Sports contributes with this agreement to professionalize the trades, put an end to the temporary status of professional groups in live theater and eliminate comparative grievances,” the ministry of Miquel Iceta has valued in a press release. The agreement includes what was approved in Royal Decree-Law 14/2021, of July 6, which now enters into force and by which the structural positions that have been occupied without interruption for three years must become permanent.

This request goes along the same lines as that of the temporary theater technicians who have been asking for a solution since the last competitions were called. The lack of progress in the negotiation has led to several weeks of stoppages that have prevented the celebration of numerous functions and premieres. The next one, which is still standing, if successful, will prevent the celebration of the traditional Christmas concert from the Teatro de la Zarzuela this December 30.

“The problem of the bulk of the storms remains unresolved, the temporary nature of the technical positions at the INAEM is 70%, since we cannot present ourselves to the current public offer or to the next ones that come out. It is an agreement that has been reached without counting on us and it does not seem anything extraordinary in a process of job consolidation. It allows access to these positions to the people who currently occupy them. In addition, it is a comparative offense since for these positions they ask for the previous requirements but for the entire They are requesting a new offer for vocational training oriented to the audiovisual ”, assesses Carlos Sierra.

In order to standardize access to the European criteria of the Bologna Plan, the Ministry of Finance and Public Service imposed qualification requirements that are difficult to meet for most of the workers in the temporary employment exchanges of public theaters, which had been formed when the Vocational Training degrees that are now required did not even exist. This is a problem that has affected dozens of councilmen, illuminators, utility workers, machinists and other types of professionals who currently work for INAEM and who have many years of experience. Many of these professionals carry out their work having obtained higher degrees, masters or studies taken at specialized schools in performing arts. The requirement of very specific vocational training qualifications – some of recent creation, others with a very limited offer of places – left them out.

During the fall, when they failed to advance in the negotiations with the ministries of Culture and Public Function, the technicians resorted to a chain of strikes, backed by the Solidaridad Obrera union, which have resulted in the cancellation of a good number of representations and even of Premieres in places such as the Teatro Real, the Teatro de la Comedia, the Teatro de la Zarzuela or the Valle-Inclán, all in Madrid.

“This agreement has not been made to solve a strike,” explains the UGT representative, “but it opens another way,” he emphasizes. “Maybe it does not satisfy the colleagues on the platform but it consolidates the work situation of many colleagues who have been in a non-permanent permanent position for years,” he adds.

The agreement has not sat well among the members of the Platform. “This even what it does is divide the workers more,” says Juan José de la Riba, member of the group and costume technician at the María Guerrero Theater. “Many of the cases it affects are positions in which a judge ruled that there were temporary contracts that were in fraud of law and that they had to become indefinite and in a maximum of four years the square should be called. Now they have to leave the calls and they know that if they are not allowed to appear because they do not have the required training, these workers will report it again and they will win again, “he adds. “We are still on the street,” he emphasizes.

This Thursday, December 30, at 7:30 p.m., the strike called by the Platform will begin in all national theaters. At 20:00 a new concentration will take place in front of the Royal Theater, in Madrid.