The Courts hosted this Tuesday a trial for the "dismissal" of the CNT union delegate in the Tourist Centers, who was facing the temporary employment company Activa Trabajo Canarias and the EPEL-CACT, and which according to the union called into question "the precarious employment relationship and junk contracts that have been made in recent years in the Centers."
According to the union, the colleague was fired on September 21 of last year in Jameos del Agua "after carrying out an action of protest for the non-contribution of uniform by the companies."
"The non-assignment of uniforms to subcontracted workers is a fact that was ratified during the trial, both by the defense of Activa Trabajo Canarias ETT S.L., and by the testimonial presented by the companies, which even acknowledged the existence of an initial discrimination, such as that workers of the public company wear a uniform with a striped shirt and black pants (design by César Manrique) that is provided by the company itself, while workers of the ETT must provide their own uniform, which even changes according to the working hours, being black pants and a white shirt at breakfasts and lunches, and with the change of a black shirt at dinners, in both cases long-sleeved," says CNT
In this regard, the union points out that "the action carried out by the colleague when joining his job was none other than to highlight precisely that discrimination, wearing a uniform that was not his own, demanding that his be delivered to him."
For this, it is pointed out that "he distributed a series of pamphlets just at the entrance of his working day, among them to the director of the tourist center of Jameos del Agua, who decided not to let him carry out his normal working day." "The colleague was forced to be at the door of the establishment accompanied by a private security guard... Facts that were ratified by several audios, which were provided as judicial evidence," he adds
"Fraud of law" and "illegal transfer of workers"
In the trial, the union states that it also discussed "how poorly the temporary contracts were made" to this worker, highlighting a "fraud of law in hiring." "The causes of temporality were not justified correctly in any of them, more than 40 contracts."
Likewise, the "illegal transfer of workers" was also alluded to. "That is, the vice of using ETT hiring to avoid having to make public job calls, despite having a staff deficit."
According to CNT, "the testimonial of the companies gave reason in this sense, since they justified the shortage of personnel to be able to face facts that are foreseeable, such as covering the vacations of the rest of the personnel."
Criticizes the "victimizing argument" of the companies
The union states, however, that it found the "victimizing argument" by the companies to be "vitiated," which it assures alluded to the fact that the CN always "carries out the same tricks or modus operandi."
"We understand from CNT that the union activity that is carried out is adequate in each case and that, evidently, there is a union strategy because if it were not premeditated and studied, it could not be argued as union activity or union strategy and hence that this union activity or union strategy is violated. If it were not premeditated, we would not be talking about activity, but we would have to talk about tantrums or outbursts in the face of business decisions," he points out.
In addition, CNT states that, in the trial, "the companies argued that the worker was never fired," which it considers "a fine euphemism to allege that they can put you on the street verbally and without giving you a dismissal letter."
"The companies never got back in contract with the worker, despite the fact that they brought a series of tests that were challenged in the trial; especially when he sent them a burofax to the companies, which was never answered, while they did answer a certified letter sent from Gran Canaria by the CNT Trade Union Section in Mataderos Insulares, addressed to the CNT delegate in the Tourist Centers," says the union, which points out that they answered "by means of another certified letter, alluding that the worker was not part of the company, neither in EPEL-CACT Lanzarote nor in Activa Trabajo Canarias ETT S.L.".
"Social peace is alluded to and, on the contrary, rights are being violated"
Likewise, CNT points out that "another classic" that they had to face, against "what the companies always argue" in the trials, is having to explain "again and again the viability of the trade union sections, which are totally legal and viable, despite not participating in trade union elections."
In this specific case, the union states that "they opposed the argumentation of the trade union section of a group of companies, alluding to the fact that such a group of companies did not exist, despite carrying the commercial contract between both as tacit proof." "The reference to the group of companies is a strategy that depends solely and exclusively on the trade union strategy that the workers wish to carry out, which they will argue under collective bargaining, as CNT did in the Tourist Centers before the Canarian Labor Court," he points out.
What is more, CNT points out that "being a trade union section in companies with more than 250 workers, the trade union delegate, according to what is stipulated in the Organic Law of Trade Union Freedom, has the significance of being a legal representative of the workers, just like the rest of the delegates of the unitary representation (elected in the trade union elections).
"We understand, from CNT, that the position of the Tourist Centers is not easy to justify the avalanche of contracts in fraud and illegal transfer that they must face, especially when the Cabildo de Lanzarote alludes to social peace and, on the contrary, fundamental rights are being violated; and where there is a CEO more concerned with changing the butter on the bread for olive oil, than with the working conditions of the workers," concludes the union.
