Under the slogan "For decent Canarian services, homologation now", about fifty workers of the labor personnel of the Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands gathered this Thursday morning at the doors of the Old Cabildo.
They want the Administration to homologate their salaries to match those of the civil servants who perform the same work as them.
162 workers in Lanzarote
In total there are 8,000 workers throughout the Autonomous Community and about 162 in Lanzarote. Andrés Allí, the union delegate of CCOO in Lanzarote, assured that the strike has been supported by 100% of the workers of Lanzarote, although the minimum services required by the Administration are being met.
He also reported that the salary differences range, depending on the group we are referring to, from 160 euros to 350 euros per month. The labor personnel of Lanzarote affected by this discrimination is present in the Ministries of Education, Finance, Housing, Social Services, Employment and Canarian Health Service of the Island.
"Government, comply with the Employment Plan"
The workers also complain that there is an Employment Plan that the Government does not comply with. It was signed in 1997 and became effective in 2002 in order to achieve job security but, according to the unions, there are many jobs to which it has not been applied.
On the other hand, they assure that in some sectors "the staff has been increased at the expense of a fixed-discontinuous employment, with precarious contracts and reduced working hours", as is the case of the administrative assistant staff of the schools or the staff that attends the school canteens.
These are working 3 or 4 hours a day and ask for an extension of the working day to 35 hours per week because, in their opinion, it is insufficient to meet the existing demand. For its part, the kitchen staff of the schools are currently working half-time and want to do it completely. And the administrative assistant staff of the schools, who are working ten months a year, demand to also work those two months that they are missing until completing the year.
Disagreement with the Administration
The strike has been called by the six unions that make up the Labor Committee and has been supported throughout the province. The spokesman of CCOO explained that "after many years of negotiating with the Administration about our working conditions, the only thing we have achieved are delays and at no time have we been summoned to a negotiating table".
The strike will be repeated on November 30 if the Government does not sit down to negotiate with them, and if the situation does not improve, they have planned new stoppages for the months of December, January and February.
