About twenty opponents An optional body of museum curators They have filed a formal complaint with the Ministry of Culture over “irregularities” and “lack of transparency” in the recent selection process. For the second year in a row, the number of vacancies continues to exist … 40 percent, which is much higher than what was recorded in previous calls. The majority of those affected are more than prepared: they have already applied for three, four and even five general employment offers. They denounced, “What is happening is not a lack of quality, but rather something we do not know.”
This group’s discomfort runs deep, and this has been conveyed to… Angeles AlbertThe Director General of Cultural Heritage and Fine Arts in a letter he sent a week ago. They denounce irregularities in the constitution of the courts, the excessive number of vacancies (or, similarly, the number of dissidents suspended), the lack of transparency in the criteria for technical correction and comparative grievance due to “the existence of tests passed with a greater number or the same number of errors in which the tests failed.” They have not received a response from the Director General yet. But some museum directors encouraged them to press on with their claims.
Among the violations discovered were the courts formed without a president or secretary – regular or alternate – which violates the basic rules of formation. The presence of members from outside the museum staff, without the specialization required to evaluate the exercises, as they say; Whole days of reading coincided without any candidate being declared “suitable.” “Most of the failures date back to the days when the member who served as presiding officer was on the court, without being designated as such on the call,” they explained. The majority of the readings of the latest test took place before a court of four people, instead of the five stipulated in the law.
The data confirms a significant increase in the number of job vacancies. In this year’s call – corresponding to 2023 and 2024 – only 40 out of 71 offers were covered; This means that the vacancy rate is 43.6 percent. This is the second year in a row that something like this has happened. At the European Patent Office for 2020, 2021 and 2022, only 45 out of a total of 74 have been filled, with 39.2 per cent of vacancies. No one understands that this is happening in a ministry that is chronically understaffed, as even Minister Urtasun has admitted. In the previous three convocations (2016-2019), the vacancy rate ranged between 5 and 8 percent.
The opposition’s complaint is not limited to the message. At least a dozen of them have filed appeals against the situation they consider unfair. The problem is that they face a ministry that does not want to cooperate. They have one month to appeal, starting October 25, but Culture has not yet provided them with details of qualifications or correction criteria. “We think what they are doing is letting time pass to deactivate it,” says one of those affected. Those who know these processes well point out that this information is usually delivered within a week at most.
The selection process consists of four exercises: a multiple-choice test on 142 topics, a language test, an oral test, and a practical case. “It’s very difficult. Don’t get to the last exam by chance. “It is impossible for us not to have the minimum threshold for success,” they point out. Most complaints are concentrated in the last test, whether due to the subjectivity of the evaluations or the absence of objective correction criteria. “We do not know why we stopped it,” they say regretfully.
Something similar happens in the role of internal promotion. This year, 35% of the places on offer remained vacant. Last year, the percentage was 64.7 percent. “We’re talking about people with a lot of experience, who have had weeks off to prepare,” says one veteran conservative. “I know there is a lot of upset.” He warns: “Within a few years there will be a huge number of retirees. “We have many colleagues who have four or five years of work at most.”
This minefield that opposition to the Ministry of Culture has become takes place in a branch – the museums branch – that is not exactly attractive to whoever reaches the position. “It is one of the worst ministries to work in,” comments a source with experience in these matters. “For those who love art or archaeology, it may seem like a dream, but as soon as you start going against it, you discover that it is not so poetic.” Conservators, technicians, archivists and librarians have denounced in these pages that they are among the lowest paid administrators and have the lowest prospects for promotion. When the duty minister becomes aware of a shortage of staff, it is, among other things, because many ministries change as quickly as possible, due to lack of prospects.
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