• Art The lack of guards in national museums, one step away from the courts

The Ministry of Culture and Sport has convened a total of 70 places for museum room guards, within a process for the entry, by the general system of free access and internal promotion, of various professional groups, according to the Official State Gazette (BOE).

Of these 70 places, three of them are reserved for people with disabilities. The call is relevant due to the problems that have arisen in state museums in recent years due to the lack of personnel that has even led to the closure of rooms.

The Minister of Culture and Sport, Miquel Iceta, already supported at the end of last year in an informative breakfast of Europa Press the work of Spanish museums despite the closure of some rooms, assuring that they were "the pear".

"The Reina Sofía, for example, is one of the five most important in contemporary art, and this is so and it is not to speak well of this Government, but of all Governments. We want more staff and we will have it, but surely the situation cannot be finalized until the end of next year, "said the minister then.

Iceta explained that the process of access to the public service "is not simple", while the mobility allowed by certain positions does not help to have a sufficient number of personnel. "It is normal, they are rights of public employees and we all have to be very respectful of their work," he added.

In addition, he pointed out that the museums were in "a moment of transition" in which all the planned personnel had not yet arrived, which meant that "some tension" was generated in some institutions. However, he also recalled the "zero replacement rate" prior to his Government as the main cause of this situation.

In the first quarter of 2022, for example, 0.05% of complaints filed by visitors to state museums in relation to specific closures had been collected (269), according to data provided by the Ministry of Culture itself.

Titration

Precisely, last summer there was an agreement between Culture and the unions by which it was agreed to make the qualification for guards and room managers more flexible to avoid partial closures in state museums due to the lack of necessary personnel, as had been happening.

With this agreement, the room guards – who with the last labor agreement had been left out of the required qualifications – would be asked for a generic qualification of ESO or EGB or an administrative FP. In addition, they could participate in internal promotion processes or transfers.

For room managers it would be the same, with a generic bachelor's degree or a generic technical FP as requirements. And, in addition, there was a particular case also modified, that of the guides of the cave of Altamira, who were promoted in category.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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