Exams and competitions flood the schedule for the 2023 election year as calls pour in from across the province. Town hall meetings fill calendars as local governments respond to rules from Brussels that require a safer and steadier public sector. The European Union has warned Spain to curb temporary appointments and end the long stretches of provisional employment seen in many Alicante municipalities. Nearly half of the workforce has faced job uncertainty for more than two decades as officials work under temporary terms.
The stabilization process will be challenging. February in Elche highlighted the tension when a call affecting 400 workers at the City Council clashed with equal access rules, yielding penalties and shifting grounds for other administrations.
In Elche a tribunal halted a stabilization initiative affecting 400 workers after an appeal with the TSJCV
The city council argues that exceptional stabilization during the provisional period is necessary and aligns with the government plan to reduce temporality and comply with European directives approved in 2021. The Human Resources department filed an appeal with the TSJCV citing a report that would have allowed one local employee to score much higher than another.
Long years
Ramón Abad, a human resources consultant for Elche, notes that this is a problem built up over years. The paper reached out to the state’s most populous municipalities and regional capitals to map stabilization plans, receiving replies from most cities except Alicante and Villena. The objective is to tackle the issue of lasting temporariness and to grow a more agile administration, with Elche aiming to stabilize 489 temporary posts that represent about 25 percent of the workforce.
A judge canceled the entire stabilization process for 400 Elche workers
In Torrevieja the stabilization process moves forward as the province follows a general course. Officials are preparing tentative lists and scheduling exams. A city official predicts the process will take roughly two years due to the workload involved in formal stabilization. The city of Salt reports progress through cooperation with three unions, CC OO, UGT and CSIF, while Torrevieja lists 108 civil servant positions and 114 merit based worker calls, plus seven combined competition and opposition calls.
Orihuela has seen nearly forty merit based selection processes to meet stabilization requirements. The mayor of human resources explains that processes are being completed to allow officials to take office. Orihuela currently fixes 259 posts and emphasizes that bases for each call are tailored so they do not disrupt other proceedings. Workers who have endured more than 25 years in interim status face a non dramatic transition and a path toward stability.
Formula
Orihuela proposes merit based competitions with a three to one weighting favoring stability while not closing the door to new hires. Officials emphasize fairness through regulated stability and an end to erratic patterns that have unsettled workers for years. In Orihuela the interim period extended for many years and reached a high share of the workforce. The aim is to ensure that this situation does not recur by offering public jobs with permanent placements.
Further north in Benidorm officials report that the baseline processes have been published in the local government bulletin but await broader publication. Pending stabilization processes are not viewed as a problem by the base teams.
The Brussels target is to keep the provisional rate at eight percent, a goal only barely met in Alicante
San Vicente del Raspeig has issued a call to consolidate and stabilize 45 temporary workers by the end of the previous year. The consolidation would keep positions opened since January 2016 and include a merit competition and a competitive examination before December 31 2020. Some civil servant posts not influenced by these plans will join the 2023 Public Employment Offer to maintain an eight percent threshold set by Europe.
The mayor and head of human resources, Jesús Villar, confirms the commitment to lift the competition opposition for these posts and continues to fill the Public Employment Offer throughout the year. He notes that 45 workers will gain stability and that the long process across institutions is nearing completion. Even with European challenges, the aim is to end the uncertainty once and for all.
Plans
Alcoy displays consensus around stabilization as a municipal priority. The local human resources advisor says the approved job offer follows the stabilization rules and highlights an already implemented stabilization plan from 2019. Cases of workers who accumulated in a temporary state for two decades are not repeated here. The maximum periods identified tend to range eight to nine years, according to the advisor.
Alcoy continues work on bases to create new stable posts through merit based competitions and competition opposition, aiming to conclude before year end. The provisional share of the workforce in Alcoy remains among the lowest in the region around eight percent, aligning with European parameters. The previous stabilization focused on workers who entered between 2015 and 2018 and the city is shifting to contracts starting January 2019 as a new norm.
Announcement
Elda City Council reports that thirty calls for stability have been approved to keep temporary employment below eight percent. The city had previously approved a Public Employment Offer in 2017 and has developed several processes calling for stability in recent years. The additional thirty positions are to be finalized by year end 2024, subject to agreed bases set by municipal associations. For posts held since 2016 merit is valued to the same extent as proven experience in any management role with no opposition stage, ensuring stability by merit based competition. If equality arises, those with the most experience at the city council take priority.
In Denia, the city council counts 565 employees with forty five percent in temporary roles. Recent HR efforts focus on securing long term stability and reducing high temporary rates, recognizing an aging workforce with nearly half over fifty one and a need to attract younger talent with digital skills. The law numbers guide the process to reduce temporality through merit competitions and combined stability calls alongside existing posts. The city aims to finalize calls and align with the public employment plan.