The Yaiza City Council has 22 disciplinary files open for workers and one of them has resulted in a dismissal, also of a disciplinary nature. This has been confirmed by its mayor, Gladys Acuña, after the workers denounced, through a statement on the website of the Federation of Citizen Services of Comisiones Obreras, a "harassment campaign" to "intimidate the staff" by the City Council. Acuña alludes in this regard to attitudes such as "mistreating" a citizen or "spending 95% of the working day on the internet", which she assures she will not condone "under any circumstances". She points out that it is a "frank minority" of workers who "tarnish" the work of the rest.
Thus, the mayor of Yaiza has assured that there are among some workers "bad habits that they still have or want to keep" and has defended that she will continue to act "in the same line". Regarding the press release in which this "harassment campaign" is denounced, she has stated that she does not know "who did it" and that "as there are very serious accusations, they must be clarified with those responsible". Acuña has said that its authorship is a "mystery" that, according to her, neither the person responsible in Lanzarote for the Federation of Citizen Services of CC.OO., nor its regional head have been able to clarify. She has stressed, however, that she has not had "any conversation in this regard or any request for a meeting in this regard" from the union representative in the City Council, Fernando Melián.
According to her, the City Council has no record "in writing" of "any claim in this regard" or of any "claim from the union"; "and even less of what they are talking about there", she added. The mayor has harshly criticized the content of that statement, stating that "they involve many people". "They not only talk about me, who am the last one to do with this, but they talk about managers, that the managers persecute workers, they talk about administrative procedures that are poorly processed, when the administrative procedures are carried out by their own colleagues who are also workers", she said.
Unjustified absences, spending "the day on the Internet" or "mistreating citizens"
"Attitudes of the type look, you have to go tomorrow to carry out work in Playa Blanca and I take and I go on leave. That is happening. Attitude of the type I spend 95% of my working day on Internet pages. Listen, no, no", the mayor has listed, explaining some of the reasons for these files. She has also referred to aspects such as "mistreating a citizen", something that she has stressed "cannot be done by someone who works facing the public", or "not showing up at their job and not justifying the absence".
"Call me what you want, I am a responsible and public manager and if the people pay me, the workers are also paid by the people; and what a people cannot be is paying workers who cost us more than 2,000 euros a month to be on the Internet. No, no, no, no", Gladys Acuña has insisted, stressing that they will continue to act "in the same line". "If they call that harassment, then call me what you want and take me to court if you understand that it is inappropriate or illegal. Now, of course, and I say it in a resounding and emphatic way, we are not going to condone any type of attitude of that type. For example, that you do not show up at your job and do not justify the absence", she emphasizes.
Acuña has assured that as mayor she feels "satisfied and proud of the City Council staff, because we have gone through hard times and we have done it together, and we have overcome it together". "However, there is a frank minority who are the ones who tarnish and give that bad publicity that the workers of all the town halls have. That is what Gladys Acuña is not going to condone under any circumstances", she has repeated. "Just as we open a file for a poor family that cannot pay their IBI, everything is seized, are you going to allow them to do whatever they want with the same public money? Well, no".
"They were allowed not to come to work on Thursdays to go hunting"
The mayor has also been asked about the alleged political affiliation of the employees subject to disciplinary action, after the CC councilor Ángel Domínguez pointed out that some of them were supporters of the nationalist formation. "I have not asked them what party they are from. I don't know. There will be some from CC, some from mine, some from the PSOE and there will be some from everything", Acuña has replied.
In addition, the mayor has added that Ángel Domínguez, "if he had any shame, would not open his mouth". "Because when I entered the City Council in 2008, where he had previously governed, do you know what the workers were allowed to do? That, for example, they did not come to work on Thursdays because they had to go hunting. That is a relaxation, it's a relaxation!", exclaimed the councilor.
Thus, she considers that "the problem" is those "bad habits that some still have or want to keep". According to her, "this is not new" and in the face of these situations, the City Council has been "working like this for some time". "What happens is that it may be surprising that if someone is ending up in dismissal, there may be others who may end up in the same thing. Then we begin to see things differently and I am already a harasser", she added.
A "mystery" that "will not stay like this"
The mayor has described this complaint as "mysterious". According to her, she contacted the head of the Federation of Citizen Services of CC.OO., Francisco Trujillo, and he told her that he had "absolutely nothing to do" with it and referred her to the regional press service of the union. "I contacted the head of the Federation of Citizen Services of the Canary Islands and he does not know about the matter either", she added. "When one makes a complaint, it must have consistency and seriousness. First there must be a person responsible behind that complaint", said Acuña, who has indicated that she has committed to the union to "clarify" this fact and that she has invited this union representative to meet with her.
Thus, she affirms that "there are more things" and that she knows "where it comes from", but that she will not make any further pronouncements in this regard until she "clarifies everything" with the union. "I have called, I have contacted and I have been very well attended by both gentlemen", she said, stating that "if I commit, I like to act seriously". She has said, however, that these accusations do not give her "the same", "because it is not true". "But of course I am going to act by virtue of whoever is responsible for all this, but we will have to identify them first", she added. For Acuña, "this type of complaint must be clarified", since they are "very serious accusations". "It is something that will be clarified, because it will certainly not stay like this".