CCOO states in a press release that "since last February, no new labor conciliations are being scheduled in the SEMAC (Mediation, Arbitration and Conciliation Service) of Fuerteventura and Lanzarote." Thus, they assure that "this unusual and unjustifiable situation represents a serious violation of the rights of workers on both islands and jeopardizes a fundamental procedure in the extrajudicial resolution of labor conflicts."
The SEMAC is a prior and mandatory service before going to court, especially in cases of dismissal, claims of quantity and other conflicts arising from the employment relationship. Its paralysis is generating "deeply negative effects", they say.
In this way, they explain that "thousands of workers are being forced to directly judicialize their conflicts, with the consequences that this implies, while many others are forced to renounce their rights, as in the case of unfair dismissals, for not being able to assume the costs of legal assistance."
In addition, "those who decide to go to court are seeing their trials scheduled for mid or late 2026 and the collapse of the labor judicial system, which is already saturated, is worsening," they continue.
UGT and CCOO Canarias denounce that "an essential service to which the working class is entitled is being violated. A service that was already being provided in a clearly insufficient way - only one day a week on each island - and that now, with its practical suspension, reaches an unsustainable and unacceptable situation."
For months, they declare that "both organizations have maintained institutional contacts to demand solutions but we are still the same." The administration publicly announced that as of June 1, 6 conciliators (3 per province) and 10 administrative staff would be incorporated. "Today, in mid-July, no incorporation has taken place. No reinforcement. No improvement. Only excuses and delays that
can no longer be justified," they criticize.
"We are facing a situation that is not only unsustainable, but could constitute a flagrant violation of fundamental rights, as well as a clear discrimination against workers in the non-capital islands. Conciliation is a way of accessing labor justice, and denying it means blocking the exercise of legally recognized rights," they point out.
"We demand the immediate reactivation of the SEMAC in Fuerteventura and Lanzarote, the committed reinforcement of personnel and a planning that guarantees its continued operation. The citizens of these islands cannot continue to be treated as second-class citizens. Labor justice must be within the reach of all workers, regardless of where they live," they conclude.