The workers of the concessionaire company of the cleaning service of Yaiza have called an "indefinite" strike starting this Friday, May 6. The employees of Hernández Bello S.L. in Yaiza claim that they are the "worst paid" within the sector on the island and denounce a series of "breaches" by the company when it comes to paying them salary supplements or providing them with work material. A meeting between the company and union representatives of the workers is scheduled for Thursday. Depending on the result of that negotiation, if they reach a "signed agreement", the strike may be "postponed", but, as one of them has told La Voz, the workers will not call it off.
Thus, if the strike finally begins this coming Friday, the workers of Hernández Bello S.L. in Yaiza will exclusively cover the minimum services, consisting of the "garbage collection in schools and health centers" of the municipality, says this employee. Given the possible "damages" that this may cause to the citizens, the cleaning workers have "apologized to all the neighbors". From the City Council, they have advanced that the Consistory is "up to date" in the payments to the company and that they will work to "guarantee compliance" with the minimum services.
This situation affects a total of 12 workers of the Yaiza cleaning service. This is explained by Basilio Pacheco, one of those employees who, together with his colleagues, were "subrogated" when Hernández Bello S.L. was awarded the service in May 2012. This employee had worked for the two companies that previously managed cleaning in the municipality, but says that the "problems" began with the arrival of this company from Tenerife.
"They have not complied with what was signed", he assures, stating that the company is not "paying them seniority", "night work" or the "salary increase" that would correspond to them every 5 years. In the opinion of this employee, the workers are "abandoned" by Hernández Bello S.L. in some aspects. Among the examples of this 'abandonment', he alludes to the uniforms. "We don't even have warm clothes, we've been waiting for them for four years", he criticizes.
According to Pacheco, he and his colleagues lack a specific agreement and are governed by the "state agreement", but he denounces that this is not being complied with. This worker attributes all responsibility to the company, given that "the City Council is complying with the payments". According to him, they have held "several meetings" with the company to convey their demands, but their responses have not satisfied them and they have finally decided to go on strike. "They are told things and they don't pay attention", he laments.
