UGT will file a collective dispute lawsuit against the Association of People with Disabilities of Lanzarote (Adislan) for "breaches" with its workers, who have denounced that this month they have not even received their payrolls yet.
"There is great discontent on the part of the staff with the management that is being carried out in Adislan", said the general secretary of UGT in Lanzarote, who stated that the association is failing to comply with "several articles" of the sector's collective agreement.
"It continues to fail to comply with the social part. It continues to make discounts on the first sick leave to workers when it is established by collective agreement that this is not the case, that 100% must be paid. In addition, there are other social aspects that it fails to comply with", Reyes said, after a meeting that UGT held with the Works Council this Thursday.
"Pending" payments from last year
The general secretary of UGT has stated that "above all the discomfort of the staff", which he pointed out is made up of more than 160 workers, is due to "delays" in payments "pending from last year". "Because the company itself recognizes that it owes them, but it puts a payment plan of 15 monthly installments", he said.
"There were some delays that were generated with the signing of the sector's collective agreement, there was a workers' assembly in which it was proposed that they be paid immediately or they would be given deadlines that would reach three monthly installments, but the company ignores and presents us with a payment plan that would reach 15 monthly installments when we are talking about delays that do not even reach 300 euros. We reject that proposal because it seems unacceptable to us", he explained in this regard.
"In addition, the workers have been pulling their weight with the new circumstances and having to provide many of the services they provided in their facilities in their homes today. Therefore, that entails transfers, they have to pay for the vehicle, and the expenses that it generates are being paid by the workers", added César Reyes, who believes that an agreement should be negotiated "to adapt to the new normal".
Delay in the payment of this month's payrolls
Regarding the delay in the payment of the payrolls of the workers this month, Adislan sent a statement to the workers on July 2, in which they were informed that the payment could be "delayed a few days" due to "the delay in pending income to be received by the entity".
"We are still on the ninth and the company can face the payment within what is established until tomorrow, but it is no less true that there is discomfort among the workers", the general secretary of UGT in Lanzarote pointed out in this regard.
"We perceive that it will not be a few days, but several days", said an affected worker, who states that they have not even received explanations from the company about what those pending income are. "We assume that it will be an income from the Cabildo, as the president came out talking about the sector, saying that there were some problems with the invoiced money, but we don't know anything," added this worker.
In this regard, it should be remembered that at the end of May, the Governing Council of the Cabildo agreed to review and tender four services in the area of social care that had been provided irregularly, with verbal awards during the mandate of Pedro San Ginés, and that some of those services were with Adislan, who received more than six million euros from the Cabildo between 2017 and 2019.
Mobilizations are not ruled out
In addition, Adislan was the subject of another controversy in recent months. And it is that, during the state of alarm, a dozen workers denounced that they had been fired without ERTE and without compensation. Some dismissals that were also denounced by UGT, who filed a lawsuit considering that they were "null or unfair". "It is already in the Mediation, Arbitration and Conciliation Service (Semac), in the Court, but pending the date of the trial being set"
Now, in addition to a collective dispute lawsuit for the "breaches" of the agreement, UGT does not rule out other actions. "In the event that the company does not set a date for the payment of the payroll and those arrears, we will have to initiate any type of mobilization", warned César Reyes, who although he stressed that UGT supports the "enormous work" that Adislan does, also pointed out that this "falls fundamentally on its workers".
