Melilla Government Council rejects UGT appeal before Port Authority

The Governing Council of Melilla refused to process the request for review of null acts submitted by UGT-Melilla against the agreement renewing union members on the Board of Directors of the Port Authority of Melilla, as published in the Official Gazette of the Autonomous City of Melilla (BOME) No. 6406, of 18 August 2026. The agreement was adopted in an ordinary resolutive session on 14 August 2026, registered under number 2026000735.

José Javier Valenzuela Angosto, general secretary of UGT-Melilla, requested through a written submission registered on 23 February 2026 that the agreement 2025000220 of the Governing Council, of 14 March 2025, by which the union members of the Port Authority’s Board of Directors were renewed, be declared absolutely null and void. The representation of UGT-Melilla in the proceedings fell to Dolores María López Guardia.

The contested agreement: renewal of CCOO-Melilla members

The contested agreement appointed Joaquín Rodríguez Bayón as full member and Francisco Miguel López Fernández as alternate member to the Board of Directors of the Port Authority of Melilla, both representing CCOO-Melilla. The proposal was made by the general secretary of CCOO Melilla on 3 March 2025, and the agreement was published in BOME No. 6262, of 21 March 2025.

UGT-Melilla requested that José Luis Faus Arias be appointed in their place as full member and José Carlos Galindo Sáchez as alternate, alleging infringement of the fundamental right to freedom of association in its dimension of institutional participation. The union claimed compensation of 50,000 euros for the alleged damages and losses caused.

Grounds for the refusal: finality of the act and absence of nullity

The Governing Council based its refusal on the fact that the contested agreement had become final by not having been challenged within the legally established period, in accordance with Law 39/2015, of 1 October. The first written submission from UGT-Melilla addressed to the Administration requesting their appointment is dated 1 August 2025, that is, more than four months after the publication of the agreement.

The report from the State Legal Service in Melilla, issued on 5 May 2026, determined that ex officio review is only appropriate when one of the enumerated grounds for absolute nullity under Article 47.1 of Law 39/2015 applies, and that the dispute raised by UGT-Melilla falls within the scope of ordinary legality, not radical nullity.

Interpretation of the “port area” as the key to the dispute

The State Legal Service indicated that the concept of “relevant trade union organizations in the port sphere” in article 30.2.e) of the Consolidated Text of the Law on State Ports and the Merchant Marine is of an eminently technical nature and is not defined in a closed manner in port regulations. Trade union relevance must be determined according to the specific port sphere, not general representativeness in the Autonomous City.

The report cited case law from the Supreme Court (judgments of 13 June 2006 and 19 June 2015) and from the High Court of Justice of the Basque Country (judgment no. 268/2025), which confirm that the determination of the relevant trade union organization depends on the specific circumstances of each Port Authority.

Recommendations for future appointments

The resolution included the recommendation that the Port Authority of Melilla specifically define what should be understood by “port sphere” for the purposes of appointing trade union members, with prior hearing of trade union organizations, employers’ organizations, the Chamber of Commerce and the affected economic sectors.

Once the port sphere has been delimited, the accreditation of trade union relevance must be carried out through homogeneous official certifications, referring to the same functional sphere, the same time period and the same reference date, in order to avoid arbitrariness in future appointments.

Available appeal routes

Against the agreement of the Governing Council, which exhausts the administrative route, an optional appeal for reconsideration may be lodged with the Governing Council itself within one month, or alternatively a contentious-administrative appeal before the competent jurisdiction within two months, both periods computed from publication or notification.

Source: Official Gazette of the Autonomous City of Melilla (BOME), no. 6406, of 18 August 2026, Governing Council, art. 943, p. 4419 (official reference: BOME-B-2026-6406).