13 Years as a Temp, 4 Degrees, No Permanent Post in Spain

13 years as a temp, 4 degrees, no permanent post in Spain

Maria Torres has spent 13 years occupying a position that was never officially hers. She joined a protest in Madrid last Thursday demanding consolidation for temporary staff, summarizing her plight: 'If I lose my post, who will hire me at this age?' She holds four university degrees, yet has never passed a competitive exam. Her case highlights a contentious debate in Spanish public employment: whether merit or seniority is truly rewarded.

The protagonist lists her obstacles: 'I have little time to study because my children are young, and one has a disability.' Thus, someone covering a role for over a decade has not converted that tenure into a permanent post. This is the core problem.

What is a temporary employee and how long can this last?

A temporary employee covers a holder's or vacant post. The reasons for appointment—replacement, vacancy, program, and task accumulation—have not disappeared, and work pools remain open. What has closed, according to prevailing analysis, is the figure of the lifetime temporary employee who retired from a structural post.

The key lies in the time limit: these reasons have a maximum duration of three years. After this, the vacancy is covered by ordinary means or abolished; if the post becomes structural, it must be filled via regulatory procedures. This is where the system has turned a blind eye for years.

The clash with Brussels: from 34% temporality to 8%

Here appears the figure that orders the entire issue. The EU sets a maximum of 8% acceptable temporality; the Spanish administration stands at around 34%, affecting over a million people. Translated: the group should be reduced to about 200,000, and there is no painless way to do it.

The criterion imposed in this adjustment would be a manual LIFO (Last In, First Out). Temporary employees with less seniority would leave first, while veterans await consolidation, which is not guaranteed. The paradox is subtle: those who have waited longest to have their experience valued would be the last to suffer the cut, fueling suspicion that seniority acts as a shield for a few.

Four degrees and no hireable CV

The harshest contradiction appears here. 13 years in the same post and four degrees should build a strong CV. However, the opening phrase suggests otherwise: the protagonist believes the private market will not want her. It is held that if the work is routine and adds no skills, the experience is worthless upon leaving. And that someone with four degrees had room to prepare for an exam.

There is also an answer to this. For years, few posts have been offered; in some bodies, public offers have come drop by drop, and those who passed without a post were trapped in a pool, chaining substitutions. It is not just personal negligence: it is a structure that rewards patience and punishes new merit.

How much does seniority weigh against the exam?

In selection processes, seniority adds: it is said that three starting points are granted to those with years of service. With this cushion, passing should be a matter of time for a veteran. Hence the question many ask: if there is this accumulated advantage, why are there those with over a decade without a post?

The international comparison slips into the conversation. In Switzerland, there is no civil servant as understood here: one enters public service, works, and if done well, remains. In Spain, the post has a shield that makes firing almost impossible, and this rigidity explains both the resistance to taking exams and the political difficulty of touching the system.

Regarding how one gets there, there are versions. Part of the analysis holds that temporality served in the past as a discretionary entry path to the administration; others recall that most of these pools are formed with exam passers who obtained no post and waited for their turn.

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The disconcerting data: from that 34%, one must drop to 8%, and the count leaves out hundreds of thousands of people who today consider their post an acquired right. No one has yet explained, with names and dates, where they go.