Comisiones Obreras has rejected in a press release the amendments introduced by the Government of the Canary Islands in the Budget Law of the Autonomous Community that tries to replace the public home help service with a financial benefit.
The union has shown its "most resounding rejection" and joins the defense of the Public Home Help Service, which the Social Work Associations are currently carrying out. The union states that "it is regrettable" that, "being precisely one of the autonomous communities with the lowest rates of social development (unemployment, poverty, economic gap...), it is the Administration itself that evades the obligations established by the Dependency Law".
CCOO has added that "the home help service is an essential benefit that is part of the Public Social Services System, and is essential to promote the quality of life of people with limited autonomy and allows them to remain in their family environment for as long as possible".
In addition, the Canary Islands is "one of the autonomous communities with the lowest ratio of residential places, both public and private", and this forces "most people with a high degree of dependency to reside in their family environment". These people "require constant and specialized attention, which generates the consequent wear and tear on their caregivers and/or family members, so, in these difficult circumstances, the support of professionalized home services is essential".
Currently, the catalog of services offered by the Dependency Law already provides, as an exception to the purpose of the law, "a financial benefit to contract a private home help service in cases where direct public coverage is not possible". The union emphasizes that "the scarce resources that the Administration makes available are forcing the referral of demand to the private sector, which has generated saturation in its waiting lists. In this context, the measures proposed by the Government of the Canary Islands in the amendments presented are even less understood".
CCOO reaffirms its rejection of any measure that means "deepening the dismantling of public services".
