WORLD WORLDWIDE EUROPE SPAIN - news journal UPDATE - en) Spain, CNT #438: UNED steals part of research salary (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

 The UNED union section has decided to denounce and take UNED to court

after repeated requests to modify the practice of deducting employer
contributions from the gross salary of researchers. According to the
union, this is an irregular management of the budget that the Ministry
of Universities puts at the service of the centres to retrain and
improve the working situation of postdoctoral researchers. Programmes
such as 'Margarita Salas' or 'María Zambrano' that promote help to
improve working conditions for research to attract talent and prevent
all postdoctoral researchers from having to look for a career in
universities outside Spain.

These are programmes in which on paper the beneficiaries can count on
2,800 euros within Spain or 3,500 euros to work abroad, but which some
universities reduce by between 26% and 30% by extracting from there the
hiring costs that any company pays for its workers. This is a very
considerable reduction when it comes to working in high-income countries
or in cities as stressed as Madrid or Barcelona, which means that many
researchers have to give up these contracts. "It had been warned since
2022, when an assembly of researchers from the 'Margarita Salas'
programme met with the Vice-Rector for Research and the Vice-Rector for
Teaching Staff at UNED," says Mario Aragón, spokesperson for CNT
Comarcal Sur.

In these three years, some universities have managed to reverse these
practices or assume the cost directly from the beginning. This is the
case of the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), which did not
cut salaries as much; others such as the Polytechnic University of
Madrid, which paid the employer's share, or the University of Salamanca,
which ended up giving in in the negotiation and also paid the employer's
share. This is not the case at UNED, where the Trade Union Section has
repeatedly asked for this way of dealing with recruitment costs to be
changed and has not received any reaction from the public university.
For this reason, CNT has denounced this issue and will take it to court
next June.

«One of the main criticisms of the associations and unions of
researchers in Spain is the lack of job stability», says Gomer Nuez,
postdoctoral researcher at UNED, and member of the Trade Union Section
of CNT-UNED. «Temporary contracts and job insecurity - he continues -
make long-term planning of research difficult, discourage investment in
continuous training and negatively affect productivity. The associations
advocate the implementation of measures that guarantee stable contracts,
thus promoting continuity in research and the development of solid
scientific careers». With this objective, the requalification aids that
are the subject of complaint and denunciation now were born.

For the assemblies and associations of young researchers, it is nothing
more than another stone in the road. These are programs that, in turn,
are carried out on merit. Like a gangster's wheel, the research staff
must have 'points' for having participated in projects, having
published, trained, etc. Where do they get the resources to do this
before they can be hired? The answer is 'free work'. Precariousness, as
they indicate, begins before the doctorate, when the grants to carry out
this training phase do not reach everyone, far from it. Only a few will
have financial help to do so, while others will have to combine salaried
jobs with the doctorate. This already represents an inequality, both of
class and opportunity, that will weigh them down throughout their
career. "The research career presents important challenges and
limitations at a socioeconomic and class level, both for entering and
for staying in it," explains Cristina Rodríguez Prada, president of
FJI/PRECARIOS.

The CNT is positive as it believes it is feasible that a court will rule
in their favour, as they have had court rulings in this regard in the past.

https://www.cnt.es/noticias/la-uned-roba-parte-del-salario-de-investigacion
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