The Ateneu Barcelonès has become a powder keg after the dismissal of Àlex Cosials, director of the Library, a respected professional who had been with the center for more than four years. The partners have first found out through internal rumors that after a short time have heated up the social networks where a series of tweets have appeared criticizing both the decision and the way in which it has been made.
For now Two of the board members, Teresa Mañà and Joan Safont, have already submitted their resignation. They are fed up with the authoritarianism of Isona Passola, who ignores part of the board since he became president of the entity in February 2021. Since then, in just a year and a half, the entity has already had three managers and three communication managers. and the team of the School of Writing, that for decades has made it possible to rejuvenate the institution with students, could also bring more problems, because among the coordinators and the faculty, among whom are Mercedes Abad, Sam Abrams and Eduard Márquez, among others, there are great dissatisfaction for a long time.
Passola’s leadership is beginning to be questioned and there are many questions being asked by the partners. What was the problem with the person in charge of the Library? Was this decision made at the board? Why hasn’t it been communicated to us?
Passola, however, does not believe that so much attention should be paid to the subject. “I don’t think a job dismissal in an institution that you want to change, renew and update is news,” says the president of the Ateneu to THE NEWSPAPER. And he justifies the resignation of Mañà and Safont, alleging that “they did not want to be involved in the decision”. He has not clarified the reasons for the disciplinary dismissal, that is, without compensation. He has only said that “there have been a series of breaches”. He has implied that “If you are a worker and you do not align yourself with the objectives of transformation and renovation” these things can happen. Asked about who will fill the position of the terminated director, she replies: “We have many librarians”.
Passola is worried about the financial deficit of the institution and considers that urgent measures must be taken. The Athenaeum has 3000 members currently and one staff of 30 employees. “With covid we have lost about 1,000 members and young people pay little, 17 euros,” says the president.
Lawyers
Sources close to the case still do not understand the reason for the dismissal of Cosials, who has put himself in the hands of lawyers and could file a lawsuit for unfair dismissal.
Some partners doubt that this dismissal will help the institution in any way. “The library is key”, remember the archaeologist Jordi Serrallonga, speaker of the science and technology section of the Ateneu. “It is very good to want to give concerts and do cultural events but You have to know what is a priority. Let’s hope there is a rectification because Àlex held a much-needed position”.
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Daniel Ortiz, a former manager, was also dismissed for disciplinary reasons and a financial agreement had to be reached with him later to prevent the case from reaching the judge. “My dismissal was arbitrary, disciplinary and absolutely mind-blowing, like that of the director of the library, because there were no objective reasons,” says Ortiz. “I have worked with Àlex. I know that he is a responsible and hard-working professional, who has initiative and does not create problems.”
Ortiz was chosen after a rigorous selection to which 25 candidates were presented. “I had been there for three months when the new Passola board came in and the first time the president saw me, she told me: you are clear that you and I are not going to understand each other.” What came later, according to his version, was a process of attrition: “Passola magnified the problems to show that he was doing it wrong”. And he adds: “Unfortunately I see too many parallels between my dismissal and the current one: arrogance, authoritarianism and unilateralism. In my case, no minutes of the Board meeting ever appeared, which, in theory, should decide these things, according to the Statutes”.