The Works Councils of both provinces of the Ministry of Social Welfare, Equality, Youth, Childhood and Families of the Government of the Canary Islands request "the resignation of the President of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo for inaction in the face of multiple and repeated complaints of dereliction of duty, chaos and harassment by various heads of various areas".
The union representatives warn that "the lack of response and effective measures has worsened the situation in social services, affecting both workers and citizens who depend on these benefits".
The staff of the Ministry of Social Welfare, Equality, Youth, Childhood and Families through their representatives in the Works Councils of both provinces, "denounce the serious situation of work overload, veiled threats and harassment by those responsible for different areas and services".
The unions in turn warn of "a possible strategy to dismantle public services, characterized by a deterioration of the work environment, an excessive workload that affects citizens, the closure of services due to the ineffective management of the personnel department, the lack of human resources to face the constant increase in demand and repeated violations of labor rights. According to the workers and their representatives, this situation seems to be the prelude to a possible outsourcing and privatization of services."
Ineffective management and deterioration of public service
After more than a year and a half of management, the current Government team "continues to fail to offer agile and effective responses to the persistent problems of the Ministry. Despite the intense media campaign to offer a very different image in turn, the situation faced by both workers and users of the services is very different".
On this occasion, both Works Councils want to focus on Nursery Schools which, with more than 50 years of experience in early childhood care (0-3 years), play an essential and social role thanks to the professionalism of their staff. Its main objective is to reduce inequalities, supporting children and the most vulnerable families, promoting work-life balance, and promoting gender equality.
Since the beginning of the legislature in 2023, the Minister acquired the commitment to create a commission of Nursery Schools to carry out a monographic study of these Centers, without having been convened to date.
Likewise, "meetings have been requested on numerous occasions from the General Directorate of Protection of Children and Families to solve the problems of Nursery Schools, without any response to date".
Currently, "serious problems are occurring in the Centers due to lack of staff, those who cause temporary disability are not adequately replaced and as a consequence classrooms have to be closed and children left without care with the respective damage caused to families".
Another consequence of the lack of staff is the obligation to hire catering, which implies an additional cost despite having their own kitchens and qualified personnel where the menu is prepared daily by a nutritionist.
On the other hand, there is a comparative grievance between the Ministry of Social Welfare, Equality, Youth, Childhood and Families, where the payment of a monthly fee is required, and the Ministry of Education, Vocational Training, Physical Activity and Sports, where registration is free.
Likewise, "a situation of inequality is being generated both for the infant educators and for the children in their care, since they do not have assistants in the classroom even to assist during lunch hours. This lack of resources not only affects the quality of the service, but also considerably increases the workload of the staff, as they do not have the necessary additional support".
The Works Councils of both provinces also denounce that "there was a commitment acquired with the previous General Director to carry out an important investment in the rehabilitation and updating of these centers, using Next Generation funds, with the aim of guaranteeing compliance with current regulations. However, to date no action has been taken in this regard. Instead, these funds have been allocated to the creation of places in the first cycle of Early Childhood Education in teaching centers of the Ministry of Education, Vocational Training, Physical Activity and Sports, evidencing the abandonment and neglect of the Administration towards an existing resource".
"We request that measures be taken to equalize the available resources of those we mention in both ministries, thus guaranteeing quality care for children and fair working conditions for all the staff of the aforementioned Nursery Schools of this Ministry," they ask.
However, at a general level the situation is critical and especially in areas such as:
- Public attention: There is a delay of more than two months in the attention and registration of documents, despite the fact that citizens are required to present documentation within 10 days. The same occurs with specialized care, seriously affecting users.
- Dependency Area: Complaints to the Labor Inspectorate and the courts are increasing due to a work environment of tension and persecution. Problems persist in the management of appointments through 012, the lack of training of newly incorporated personnel generates errors in the evaluation of Dependency and in the granting of financial benefits.
- Disability: Waiting lists of almost four years to be assessed, while the staff is reduced due to the lack of coverage of sick leave and retirements. Delays of 1 year in the reception of documentation that comes from the records in digital format. An application that has been in place for 2 years and that does not finish working.
- Minors Area: Workers denounce an unsustainable workload of files, which causes deficiencies in the protection of minors in the Canary Islands and puts their well-being at risk.
- Canarian Citizen Income: Being an emergency aid for people of extreme vulnerability index, it is clear that the concept of emergency is distorted, since they are resolving files with a registration date of the second semester of 2023, that is, they are a year and a half behind. A similar situation occurs in the review files of those who already receive it and request an increase in the amount. There are therefore more than 7,000 files pending assignment and resolution for the first time, and another as many to review.
- After several complaints to the General Labor Inspectorate and it recommended corrective measures to improve the facilities of the building where the General Directorate of Protection of Children and Families and part of the General Directorate of Disability are located, this Ministry has not implemented them, as well as in other dependencies.
Therefore, it can be affirmed that "there is a constant abandonment by political leaders towards the people served by the Ministry, especially vulnerable groups in need of care and protection. This situation generates in the workers a feeling of helplessness, institutional abuse, emotional overload and additional pressure to try to fulfill their work despite the lack of resources".
Demand for urgent solutions
Faced with this alarming reality, both citizens and professionals in the sector demand "a more efficient, transparent and committed management by the Ministry of Social Welfare, Equality, Youth, Childhood and Families of the Government of the Canary Islands, in order to guarantee a quality public service and respect for the labor rights of the staff. For this, it is essential to have managers who possess a true gift of leadership with the ability to manage teams with empathy, make effective decisions and ensure a healthy work environment, key issues for the correct provision of public services".