The company Empark S.A. has dismissed the four workers from the Guacimeta airport parking lot. Among those affected is Manuel Garzón, union delegate and coordinator of United Left (IU) in Lanzarote, who attributes it to "political persecution".
Garzón has stated on Radio Lanzarote-Onda Cero that these dismissals occurred "scarcely 30 hours after the election results". In addition, he pointed out that the company has opened a contradictory file and statement of charges against him. "They have taken away three families who depend on a salary and they want it to be a justified dismissal. Damn it, it's a drama! And all because of political persecution," Garzón insisted. "We will do everything as far as the legal line allows us," he announced.
Asked about the reason the company alleges for dismissing these workers, he assured that it is "ridiculous" and that it has to do with an alleged mismatch of unpaid vouchers in the cash register. "They haven't said anything since February and after the election results they dismiss," he insisted.
Garzón has recalled that he has already been dismissed and reinstated "on more occasions" and has assured that he is a "key piece in the case of the illegality of the Terminal 1 parking lot, the Terminal 2 parking lot and the bus area of the Guacimeta airport".
For Garzón, the results obtained by IU in the elections and these dismissals are related. "We get the best results and 30 hours later they dismiss us. Me and my colleagues," he pointed out, although he clarified that his colleagues do not belong to United Left. All of them are "the oldest", those who had been working for eight years.
"I have been working in the Guacimeta parking lot for eight years. Due to a labor conflict over an illegal transfer of workers that we denounced a long time ago, an investigation had to be carried out to find out who was the subsidiary responsible. A study was done to find out who owned the parking lot. The owner is the Mayor's Office of San Bartolomé. I provided the sentences to the mayor, who convened a plenary session in 2012. Unanimously, they approved requesting 657,000 euros in fees for this parking lot," Garzón explained.
"Since they don't use bullets now, they fire you"
This employee believes that there is a "cause-effect" between the delivery of this documentation, the results of IU and his dismissal. "Who was the union delegate? Who has facilitated all this? What happens if I continue? What happens with the subrogations that have been passing the responsibility from one company to another? Who would have to pay those 657,000 euros?", he asked on Radio Lanzarote-Onda Cero.
Garzón believes that his dismissal has to do with the fact that he represents "a threat", in the event that in municipal elections he manages to enter with IU as a councilor in San Bartolomé, since he would present a motion on this parking lot. And he has recalled that this parking lot "gives a lot of money" and in the "remote but increasingly close case of municipalizing the parking lot, the money would go to the coffers of San Bartolomé". "Kill him as soon as possible, but since they don't use bullets now, they fire you, you and your colleagues," he lamented.
As a union delegate, Garzón believes that his dismissal may be unfair. "It will be in court for a period and will return to the company again, but I will enter with different colleagues, I will enter alone, they have annulled me. That is the strategy," he denounced.