The Balearic Islands' highest court, the Tribunal Superior de Justícia, or TSJIB, issued a rejection of the wrongful termination claim by Rubén Castellar Lozano and overturned a previous ruling requiring the administration to satisfy Castellar's demand of €10,143 in unpaid wages.

Castellar worked for the Formentera Council from March 7, 2016 to January 31, 2017, the day the former firefighter determined he would stop work. However, Castellar arrived at work with his lawyer and a notary on the day in question claiming no knowledge of any agreement to that effect. At that time he filed a claim saying his termination had been invalid.

On that point, the TSJIB declared it had sufficient proof “the Castellar communicated he did not wish to renew his employment contract. In line with this, his employment came to an end by voluntary resignation and not a unilateral decision by the hiring entity”.

Repealed as well is an earlier ruling's requirement the Council provide Castellar unpaid wages, as the firefighter sought to benefit from a convention for which he was not eligible. The court ruled “the plaintiff's wages were those set by his employment contract”, and declared that “a collective agreement for personnel of the Illes Balears administration is not applicable because [the hiring party] is not part of the Balearic administration; it has its own administration”.

Reserve staff

The firefighter also filed a 2014 suit against the Formentera Council claiming entitlement to employment given his place on the administration's list of reserve staff. He won the suit when the court ruled the plaintiff should have started work summer 2014, not March 2016, and Castellar successfully lobbied for compensation despite services not rendered.

On Monday January 7 the Formentera Council's environment office rolled out a new initiative to control infestation on the island of the invasive caterpillar known as the pine processionary. The administration is bringing in a pair of professional forest service workers to administer a treatment strategy based on the manual and mechanical removal —and subsequent controlled burning— of the processionary's nests, or “tents”. In 2019 the expected cost of the programme is €5,500 (VAT included).

Locals lending a hand

Islanders wishing to report newly-detected nests to Council personnel have three ways to do it: sending GPS info via smart-phone app Línea Verde; phoning the CiF environment office at 971.32.12.10 or writing the office an email (mediambient@conselldeformentera.cat).

The push is coordinated in tandem with the regional ministry of environment and is part of a strategy to control the pine processionary's spread that was requested by the Formentera Council following the passage of related measures by Formentera's Consell d'Entitats and a subsequent vote by the island's plenary assembly. Two other groups, the Balearic healthy forests' division (Ibanat) and environmental service agents (whose title is abbreviated to “AMA”), are also participating in the initiative.

The Govern balear is concurrently overseeing air dustings by helicopter with a pest-control agent called Bacillus thuringiensis. The next is scheduled for October.

Department head Daisee Aguilera pointed out that drops in pine processionary tents have been registered in areas receiving treatment while, on the stretch of land 50 metres inland from the island's coastline where aeral dusting is prohibited, new tents have been reported. Aguilera said the data gave weight to the “argument in favour of aereal spraying and of the need for continued manual and mechanical clearing of the pests' tents”.