Wilfredo Toribio will not be admitted. Having digested the displeasure, and after a period of reflection, we are beginning to assume that, finally, the economic route has been preferred and to pay to safeguard the arrogance of some. ...
Wilfredo Toribio will not be admitted. Having digested the displeasure, and after a period of reflection, we are beginning to assume that, finally, the economic route has been preferred and to pay to safeguard the arrogance of some. We must admit that it has been difficult for us to accept it, just as the attitude of some political colleagues has produced the same bewilderment.
On the mutation of the PSOE
Alternativa Ciudadana 25 de mayo proclaimed several times the lack of humanity and disproportion that was being had with the case of Wilfredo Toribio. However, on Wilfredo's side, it wasn't just us, there were also other political formations such as the PSOE, although now, once the jacket has been changed, the criteria have also done so.
It is not necessary for us to make our own narration of the facts when there are official documents, free of judgments and personal opinions, that attest to the evolution of events and that reflect the change of opinion of the PSOE from when Wilfredo was fired until last Friday when he was finally denied readmission to his job.
If we go back to the ordinary plenary session of January 27, whose minutes are available to any citizen on the Cabildo's website, you can read the opinion that the then opposition councilor for the PSOE, Mr. Joaquín Caraballo, had about Wilfredo's situation:
"Mr. Joaquín Caraballo, as spokesperson for the PSOE group, begins his speech by mentioning the judgments, which both in the first and second instance, have considered the dismissal as improper and disproportionate. He appeals to the humanity of those responsible for making this decision. He urges them not to take it from a personal point of view and to use the time elapsed and what has happened as a tool to be understanding, given the repercussions that this decision will cause. The objective, in his opinion, should be to open or consolidate a space for continuity and meeting of the workers of the centers with their managers, harmonizing a labor relationship that is much needed at this time.
For all these reasons, he asks Coalición Canaria and the Partido Popular to reconsider this dismissal decision. He states that the PSOE will support the readmission of the worker Wilfredo Toribio Romero, since, based on what has happened, he does not deserve to be solely responsible for a series of acts that occurred in some unfortunate moments, which he hopes will not happen again. To all this, we must add the apologies publicly expressed by the worker".
Trade union rights forgotten
As a complement, in the extraordinary session of the Board of Directors of the public company of the CATS, which was held on November 11, 2011, Mr. Gutiérrez Gutiérrez justified his favorable vote for the readmission of Wilfredo based literally on the following issues:
- Because he does not know what would have happened if there were no recorded images.
- Because readmission would be the least onerous measure for the company.
- Because trade union rights must be respected and in all labor disputes there are usually acts of bad taste that are used as pressure measures.
These statements, which almost beg CC and the PP to reconsider Wilfredo's situation, belong to the same people who voted NO to his readmission after a government pact. They are also the same people who represent a party of the working class.
These "trade union rights" to which Mr. Gutiérrez refers without any shame seem not to be weighed in the same way now that the PSOE sits at the same government table as Coalición Canaria. A struggle for trade union rights that are contained in the bases of their party and that act as the main link between the political entity and its voters.
We would recommend that the PSOE of Lanzarote establish a thorough review of its political exercise in relation to article 2 of its statutes, in which it defines itself as a party of the workers in the following way: "The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party is a political organization of the working class and of the men and women who fight against all types of exploitation, aspiring to transform society to turn it into a free, egalitarian, solidary and peaceful society that fights for the progress of the peoples. Its objectives and programs are those set in its declaration of principles and in the resolutions of its Congresses".
As Aristotle said, "one cannot be and not be something at the same time and under the same aspect".
*Ginés de Quintana, councilor of Alternativa Ciudadana in the Cabildo
