If there ever was a clear indication that Spanish salaries and work conditions are not in line with that of their European counterparts, this may be it.
It all began on March 14th 2022, when workers at the Spanish Embassy in London called an indefinite strike.
They demand and continue to demand a salary update after thirteen years of reported wage freezes, equal pay for all workers in the same administrative category, and the option of contributing to Spain’s social security system rather than the UK’s.
? Hola a tod@s:
— Personal Laboral Exterior (PLEX) Reino Unido (@PlexReinoUnido) March 27, 2022
Iniciamos nuestra andadura en redes sociales publicando nuestro manifiesto. Si deseáis colaborar con nosotr@s, os animamos a que firméis y compartáis la petición. Gracias!!!? https://t.co/DUUITGQfAf pic.twitter.com/hvwxXjlf83
The manifesto by Spain's consular staff explaining the reasons for the strike, under the headline "Abandoned".
The salaries of Spain's consular staff in the UK range between €20,000 and €26,000 per year, not enough to cover London's sky-high living costs, employees rightfully claim.
READ ALSO: Spanish Embassy staff in UK go on strike over pay and work conditions
These demands and strike actions were replicated at consulates in Manchester and Edinburgh later on in March, and although the huelgas (strikes) in the United Kingdom have been reduced to a couple of hours a day after strike organisers PLEX (Labour Personnel of the Foreign Service) reached some consensus with Madrid, the problems aren't completely resolved yet.
In fact, anger against Spain's Foreign Affairs Ministry (Ministerio de Exteriores) appears to be boiling over around the world.
Domino effect
Protests in the UK have now incited strikes among Spanish embassy staff in other countries including France, Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Ireland and Australia.
El colectivo #PLEX de #Irlanda comenzamos nuestra movilización en redes para exigir la mejora de nuestras dramáticas condiciones laborales.
— PLEX_Irlanda (@PLEX_Irlanda) May 26, 2022
¿Cuál es nuestra situación? Léelo en el comunicado.
???
Gracias por vuestro apoyo❗️❗️❗️#abandonados #excluidos@jmalbares @MAECgob pic.twitter.com/6tOKbxTwFJ
Staff based in China are also showing their support by sending letters to their superiors with similar demands.
In Israel, Spanish consular workers are protesting outside their embassy during their lunch breaks, and throughout Latin America embassy staff are getting ready to carry out their own strikes.
As is the case with staff in the UK, they are challenging their low pay and wage freezes, which they claim often don’t meet the minimum wage in the country they’re living in.
According to union representatives, all staff abroad have had their salaries “frozen since 2009, despite inflation and greater pressure on the workforce, which is creating an increasingly tense environment”.
In France at the consulate in Lyon, worker Marta Navarro has said that they "earn below the French minimum interprofessional salary and that the only way the consulate is managing to function is due to internship staff" who can be paid less.
Protestas: Embajada y oficina Comercial Paris,consulado de Estrasburgo,Toulouse y Burdeos. Por unas condiciones de trabajo dignas. #abandonados #sinconveniolaboral #hartos #ignorados #excluidos @jmalbares @EmbEspFrancia @MAECgob @Yolanda_Diaz_ @sanchezcastejon pic.twitter.com/v5AvZp5CCZ
— PLEX Francia (@PlexFrancia) May 20, 2022
While in Germany, Spanish embassy staff are protesting the loss of purchasing power after 13 years of salary freezing, for which they demand a salary increase. The salary of a consular official at the Berlin consulate is around €36,732 per year.
In Brussels, employees say that although in 2019 there was a 3.2 percent increase in wages in most European Union countries, it did not make up for the loss of purchasing power. They argue that in the last nine months there have been four wage increases in Belgium and they have not received any of them.
Hay días en los que no sabemos si entrar o salir de nuestro asombro.
— Personal Laboral Exterior (PLEX) - Bélgica (@PlexBelgica) May 26, 2022
Tras semanas de movilizaciones, los empleados públicos - excluidos del Convenio Único - siguen tan ignorados como siempre. Qué capacidad de diálogo y negociación tienen nuestros administradores?@jmalbares pic.twitter.com/sY0PEGMJOb
And down under in Australia, Marcos Redondo, an official of the Spanish Consulate in Sydney has told the Spanish press that "in 2017 they were on strike for 35 working days." But after almost a month and a half, the workers could not sustain the strike, as they could not afford the loss of wages. Since then, they have sent several letters addressed to the Australian ambassador to Spain saying that Sydney workers "are again below the legal minimum wage for the fifth consecutive year".
Although the main demand of Exteriores' workforce abroad is a wage increase, they also want a labour agreement, which will regulate their working conditions. Those in the UK also want to be able to contribute to Spain’s social security system rather than the UK’s, which since Brexit offers higher benefits than the British system.
Visa processing delays and longer waiting times
Spain's embassies and consulates abroad are responsible for issuing Spanish passports, offering assistance to Spanish nationals and processing visas for foreigners who want to move to Spain, among other responsibilities.
There have been reports that hundreds of Spaniards residing in the UK are trapped in the country as a result of their passports expiring and not being able to get an appointment to renew their documents at the Spanish embassy or consulates for months, even before the strikes began in March.
This showcases how deep rooted the problems are at Spain's embassies and consulates in the UK. In 2021, Spain went for six months without having an Ambassador in the United Kingdom and there have been ongoing complaints for the past years about long queues, poor service and lengthy processing times, all of which have worsened as a result of Covid-19 and Brexit.
‼️4️⃣° día consecutivo de protestas en #ReinoUnido‼️
— Personal Laboral Exterior (PLEX) Reino Unido (@PlexReinoUnido) May 26, 2022
El tiempo de espera ha terminado y seguimos sin noticias ni realidades tangibles#LasPalabritasSeLasLlevaElViento y #EstoPareceTarifa #26Mayo@jmalbares @mjmonteroc @joseluisescriva @MAECgob @EmbSpainUK @Haciendagob @Hilda_Jim pic.twitter.com/NJPZQGaxjS
Spanish embassy and consular workers by contrast argue that they are not only underpaid, they are understaffed.
From a foreigner's perspective, the recent strikes in the UK have meant that anyone trying to apply for Spain’s Non-Lucrative Visa, Golden Visa, work visas or student visas has had to wait longer than they had originally planned for appointments and processing, causing some documentation to expire and affecting their relocation goals.
This backlog of applications is now slowly but surely addressed in the United Kingdom, but new strikes and protests by consular staff around the world are likely to result in a similar limbo for many other applicants who have to deal with Spanish embassies or consulates.
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