Local Police stage a demo outside city hall

THE Palma city council's new wage agreement has been signed, but it hasn't satisfied everybody, especially the Local Police.
About 100 policemen staged a noisy proest outside city hall in Plaza Cort yesterday to express their rejection of the new agreement which will be in force from January 1, 2005 to December 31, 2008. Three unions representing council workers accepted the agreement on Tuesday, but three other unions, including one of the biggest, the Workers Commissions (CC.OO), rejected it. Initially they had planned a protest march from Plaza España to Plaza Cort, but at noon they were informed that the central government representative's office would not allow this. Despite this, about 100 officers turned up at the Plaza España, where union representatives informed them of the ban.
However, in small groups they made their way to city hall, handing out leaflets explaining their grievances.
At Plaza Cort, they spent an hour blowing whistles and horns, but there were no incidents.
Next Wednesday they plan to demonstrate outside the Gran Hotel in Plaza Weyler, near the law courts, because a congress which Mayor Catalina Cirer is due to attend will be held there. A council spokesman said that the demands of the three unions which rejected the agreement “were beyond the council's means.” He added that the council was “open to dialogue“ and regretted that the unions had presented their demands as “an imposition.” Mayor Cirer said yesterday that everybody had the right to stage a protest to defend their interests, providing that it was done within the legal framework.