The Provincial Council of Bizkaia states that it will appeal against the judgments for endangering 227 jobs for the stabilization of workers by linguistic profiles. The judgments of the Administrative Dispute Tribunal of the High Court of Justice of the Basque Country are not yet firm, but the Council has expressed its “total disagreement”: “We believe that they have not properly interpreted the applicable rules on public service and language.”

In the bases of the stabilization processes, Euskera requires levels of knowledge B2 and C1 for most people who want to stabilize their jobs, and in some jobs the knowledge of Euskera is considered merit. For example, of the 77 administrative posts, 71 have assigned the Euskera profile, according to the sentencers, which represents an index of preceptivity higher than that legally applicable to Bizkaia.

The Deputy explained that everyone had the opportunity to participate in the selection process: “It is clear that in a territory with two official languages, those who are able to use the two official languages have more merit and capacity than those who are able to use a single language.”

The other judgment may require a stabilisation process of 150 jobs. They say in the sentence that the Basque demand “discriminates” against workers who only know Spanish and that in the Provincial Council of Bizkaia the attention in Basque is “guaranteed”.

Some unions have also criticized the rulings, and ELA has denounced that Basque knowledge is considered a “discriminatory factor”: “With any other knowledge it does not happen”. He also criticizes the recently approved Basque Decree because it will not entail changes: “The linguistic rights of the Basques will also be repressed as they move forward.”

199 precarious jobs in Gipuzkoa

They are not the only example of judicial aggression against the Basque Country; two weeks ago the union LAB reported that in the Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa there are 199 administrative officials in the process of stabilization. They were asked to certify levels B2 and C1 in Euskera to access the job, but as a result of a resource it is not clear whether the workers who prove the level will get the job. On February 16, many workers protested against the appeal called by ELA and LAB.