The science law is very close to reaching the Council of Ministers for its final referral to the Cortes, but in the days that remain until that step is taken, key adjustments will be made for the fate of a regulation that is closely linked to labor reform: this The latter eliminates contracting for work or service, widely used in the field of research, and for its part, the law still under study provides for a new indefinite hiring formula designed to give more stability to the careers of researchers, technicians and management staff. The challenge, sources from the negotiation point out, will be how to temporarily regulate the no man’s land that remains between the prohibition of making new contracts for works or services (as of April) and the entry into force of the Science Law, which will not be he hopes that it will be approved by parliament until the return of the summer holidays.
This piece is one of the fundamental parts that are missing to complete a standard -now in the preliminary draft phase- that includes other labor provisions of considerable scope, such as the redundancy payment of 12 days per year worked for researchers who sign a predoctoral or postdoctoral contract, a measure that the Minister of Science, Diana Morant, has promised in recent days to extend to those who already had a contract of that type before the entry into force of the new standard.
Formally, the dialogue between unions and the Government on the Science Law within the General Negotiation Table of Public Administrations was already closed last Thursday at the request of the Ministry of Finance, which believes that matters such as professional careers or the remuneration of investigators and technical and management personnel have to do so in the Civil Service dialogue forums, but from the central offices they confirm that the avenues of dialogue remain open with Morant’s department to close the last pending fringes and outline the fit of the future regulation with the labor reform.
From the CCOO they point out that contacts with Science have taken place since last Friday to address issues such as the apparent contradiction of prohibiting contracting by work or service with the exception -which includes the reform itself, in its fifth additional provision- that allows this type of contractual formulas if they are used in European funded projects of the Recovery Plan or “for the execution of temporary programs whose financing comes from [otros] funds from the European Union”. Many research projects, remember in the union, are financed with community contributions, and they want it to be well defined under what conditions these eventual hirings are allowed so that they do not become a new gateway to the precariousness.
Researchers’ demonstrations
For their part, the main associations of researchers in the country and some unions starred this Monday rallies in nine cities to demand improvements in the Science Law. In the protest in Madrid, before the Congress of Deputies, dozens of people sang songs such as “precarious science, mark Spain” or “I investigate, I do not beg” to demand that measures such as the elaboration of a Statute of the Research staff that regulates their labor rights, the improvement of the minimum remuneration of predoctoral students (who receive between 56% and 75% of what their colleagues receive whose salary is regulated by the agreement), the integration of all the research staff in their collective agreements of reference or the reversal of the outsourcing of basic services of universities and research centers.
The conveners see with good eyes the labor measures contemplated in the Law of Science, but they want to go further: “we are very grateful that you have considered [la extensión de las indemnizaciones a los investigadores actuales], but we want there to be a stronger commitment”, explains Vanesa Nozal, president of the Federation of Young Researchers (FJI); “for example, establishing a statute for research personnel would be a very simple commitment to assume – a negotiation could be established one year ahead- and it would be helping to establish rights for the future”. Manu Santana, from FPU Investiga, adds for his part that in addition to the aforementioned measures, “the creation of a National Office of Scientific Integrity with the power to sanctioning to put an end to cases of harassment and irregularities; remove restocking fee [que impide contratar a un investigador hasta que se retira otro] or mental health care: According to a study in ‘Nature’, 39% of people who do their thesis have depression, compared to 6% of the general population“. Regarding the promise of the ministry to extend the compensation, Santana says that “we have been very happy, but we want to see it reflected in the BOE”.
In addition to Madrid, the concentrations were held in Badajoz, Barcelona, Castellón, Granada, Santiago de Compostela, Seville, Valencia and Zaragoza, and their manifesto was signed by 22 organizations.