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Barcelona libraries prepare for a September of protests after three months of strike action
Barcelona’s public libraries face September with the labour dispute still open. After three months of an indefinite strike, staff are preparing new demonstrations and want to turn 1 September into a day of widespread closure across the network, just as the city begins to recover its usual activity after August.
The protest began on 26 May and since then the opening of facilities has been irregular. Each worker decides individually whether to join the stoppage and, when a library does not have the minimum staff required, it may remain closed even if its official timetable says otherwise.
The situation has become particularly visible during the summer. Of the city’s 41 libraries, only some are normally open in August, and some also operate as climate shelters. The strike has added uncertainty for students, people who work remotely and neighbours who go to these spaces looking for air conditioning, an internet connection or simply a quiet place.
The CGT and Intersindical unions now want to increase the pressure. For Tuesday 1 September, they have called on the entire workforce to take part in a day of strike action intended to close Barcelona’s libraries and to join a demonstration planned for 11 in the morning near the Sagrada Família.
The demands focus on timetables, work-life balance, pay and staff shortages. Workers are also calling for greater recognition of duties which, they say, have changed considerably: libraries are no longer solely places for borrowing and reading, but also spaces for study, digital access, climate shelter and support in increasingly varied social situations.
Negotiations have not managed to defuse the dispute either. Since February, 13 meetings have been held between the works council, the Consorci de Biblioteques and the City Council, but workforce representatives consider the progress insufficient and say that a large part of those meetings have not helped to bring positions closer together.
September may intensify the protest still further. In addition to the mobilisation on the 1st, the sector has set 18 September aside for a joint day of action in libraries across Catalonia. Barcelona’s workforce will also decide during the first week of the month which new actions to add to its calendar.
For users, the most immediate consequence will continue to be uncertainty at every door. With students, civil-service exam candidates and families returning after the holidays, libraries that usually regain activity in September may begin the academic year still waiting to find out each morning which ones manage to open.