The workers of the Insular Hospital have called a new indefinite strike starting next December 12, with 20-minute stoppages in each shift, "which could be increased to a total stoppage" if no response is found to their demands. The decision was adopted in the assembly held on November 17, although they have made it public this Tuesday in a statement.
Among other things, they demand that their salaries be equal to those of the workers of the Canary Islands Health Service, "as established in their agreement", that the staff be stabilized and that "vacant positions due to retirements be filled, so that they stop privatizing services." In addition, they charge against the government group of the Cabildo, which they accuse of having breached the plenary agreement that addressed their demands. "After a year of promises, they continue to lie to the staff of the Insular Hospital, as they continue to keep the center in total abandonment," they denounce.
Similarly, they question that the government group "has ignored" the statements made last August by the Minister of Health of the Canary Islands, Jesús Morera, showing his reluctance to include the Insular Hospital in the Canary Islands Health Service in its current conditions. "I'm not going to put in my mouth what I can't swallow," Morera said then, referring to the delayed integration of a Hospital that dates back to 1950 and that, according to the Business Committee, "is not in conditions."
"What the Cabildo has done is continue to privatize services"
"Instead of remedying and starting to make small investments to keep the building and machinery in good condition, what the government group of the Cabildo has done and continues to do is continue to privatize services," questions Intersindical Canaria. According to the union, "the last one they have privatized is kitchen cleaning, leaving the staff on the hiring list in a state of helplessness, since they have been left without the possibility of continuing to provide their services to the hospital in this sector."
According to Intersindical Canaria, there are "many workers with more than 7 years of seniority and who had employment contracts for almost the entire year who have been left on the street, without any rights." According to the hospital workers, with this action "they demonstrate that they have not paid attention to the statements of the former Minister of Health and Social Welfare of the Cabildo in 2015, Carmen Rosa Márquez, who said on November 20, 2015 that it was necessary to analyze in detail the labor situation of the staff in order to proceed with their integration."
The Business Committee of the Insular Hospital also wanted to "apologize to the citizens for the inconvenience that may be caused and asks for support so that this hospital continues to belong to all the people of Lanzarote and that it does not continue to pass into private hands."
