Sant Julià de Lòria approves 37‑hour week and wide personnel reforms

The Sant Julià de Lòria parish council has approved a package of personnel regulations that introduces a compacted 37‑hour working week for Casa Comuna staff and revises internal rules on schedules, compensation and organisational structure. The measures, which include a continuous working day with a 30‑minute break, take effect on 1 January.

Regulations establish 37 hours as the standard weekly schedule and rearrange shifts and weekly rest periods. The new timetables are intended to extend citizen service hours—from 10 to 18 hours—and allow the use of shifts where operational needs require, notably in hygiene and public‑roads services. The rules also state that hours worked beyond 40 in a week will not be compensated.

The compensation and social‑protection rules were also amended. The council says the changes equalise pay in cases of death or total incapacity and simplify the calculation of proportional salary during absences for workplace accidents or occupational illness. Family‑related bonuses were adjusted: the marriage bonus is cut from €1,400 to €200, while the birth bonus is raised to €300.

Parish officials framed the package as a way to attract and retain talent and to improve work–life balance in an administration with an average employee age of 49. Cònsol major Cerni Cairat said the measures aim to make municipal employment more attractive after many public job notices have gone unfilled, and argued that compacting the working day can in some cases raise productivity. Cònsol menor Sofia Cortesao described the reforms as a reorganisation of working time, not a reduction in commitment, and noted they result from about a year of dialogue among elected officials, managers, staff and the union.

The vote revealed divisions within the opposition. Councillor Sandra De la Rosa (Demòcrates) voted in favour, saying she supported measures to consolidate staff and promote family–work reconciliation and noting her participation in the commission that drafted the regulations. Opposition councillors Josep Majoral and Mireia Codina (Unió Laurediana) abstained; Majoral described his abstention as a matter of coherence with positions from the previous legislature and warned that reducing hours while acknowledging staff shortages is contradictory and could complicate any planned expansion of citizen services. He also called for fiscal restraint in personnel spending.

Party sources downplayed suggestions of a wider political realignment, saying De la Rosa voted on the basis of the work she had done in commission and that the differing vote concerned a specific management issue rather than a broader shift in alliances.

Council members noted that during the current mandate a personnel commission and a working table were created to improve coordination between political and technical teams and to agree a new working paradigm for the administration. The reforms are presented both as improvements for existing employees and as a tool to make municipal employment more appealing to prospective candidates.

The council also reported recent financial indicators at the session, and signalled planned investments in infrastructure and equipment; officials said the personnel changes are part of a broader effort to ensure the administration can provide services effectively despite recruitment difficulties.