The Popular Party (PP) have a knack of upsetting the public… abortion, austerity measures, Luis Barcenas, to name but a few. It appears now that they have done it again! This time, PP councillor Ángel Donesteve, has dismissed a female employee allegedly because she is now a mother.

Justifying his decision, Donesteve, the head of the city’s Hortaleza district, said, “I need maximum performance and as many work hours as possible.”

It is worth pointing out that the woman in question has held the third most important administrative position in the legal services department, and has worked there for ten years. Even Donesteve himself described her as honest, hardworking and, “thanks to her the administrative output of the legal department has increased by 50 percent.”

So, if she’s so good, honest and dedicated, why get rid of her? “I was very pleased for her when she became a mother a year ago, but now I need to have maximum performance.” That’s quite a statement from the man who also sits on the Family & Social Affairs Committee of the Madrid city council.

Let’s have a look at the dismissed employee’s record since having her child… she has never put in a request to reduce her hours, nor did she request any changes aimed at balancing work and family life, she continued to put in regular 8am through to 3.30pm days and even did extra work in the afternoons.

Of course, the opposition parties have rounded on Donesteve, with one socialist spokesperson saying, “The PP is cutting back on nurseries, assistance for the elderly, and at the same time it is stopping people from balancing their work and family lives.”

Mr. Donesteve, with typical, political hindsight, has denied that the dismissal had anything to do with motherhood… well, whether it did or didn’t, it still leaves us wondering why politicians the world over are always so very out of touch with the real world.