Representatives from CCOO, UGT, and USO have demanded better salaries and labour conditions leading to the achievement of quality employment in the islands.
The events commemorating International Workers’ Day will be held under the slogan ‘For full employment: Less hours, better salaries’ and will take place at 11:00 in Tenerife and Gran Canaria, as a demonstration, at 12:00 as a gathering in La Palma, La Gomera, and El Hierro, along with two more gatherings in Lanzarote at 10:00 and at 11:30 in Fuerteventura.
UGT’s secretary general in Canarias, Manuel Navarro, has demanded improvement and reduction of working hours and a positive boost in part-time contract conditions, in addition to the need to achieve full employment, which he described as “very challenging in Canarias” and for which he requested greater economic diversification “because otherwise the possibilities are almost nonexistent.”
Navarro highlighted the effectiveness of implementing labour reform closing the year with 42.9% permanent contracts, and the increase in the minimum wage, which has been 54% higher than in 2008, stating that “fortunately, it has been very positive for the pockets of Canarian families, and it has also pushed up the salary tables in collective agreements.”
However, despite these positive macroeconomic figures, he emphasized that in Canarias one in three residents live below the poverty line, the need to avoid double-speed wages by provinces with wages disappearing in Santa Cruz de Tenerife province, and concerns about the chambermaids’ sector, who “work daily underpaid and unprotected,” encouraging them to join the cause.
They also demanded the implementation of the European social charter regarding dismissals and anticipated a favourable ruling where dismissal will be regularised in favour of the dismissed individual.
USO Canarias’ organizing secretary, Itahisa Torres, announced that their union will only have a gathering in Tenerife and used the day to “denounce the low quality of employment, which has seen many improvements but still remains precarious”, pointing out the need for effective policies.
She advocated for the recognition of family reconciliation and further highlighted the 4% loss in purchasing power in Canarias due to “employment disguised as permanent which is actually temporary”, with trial periods that are not completed to avoid long-term contracts, hence calling for “employment without fine print”.
Also, she remembered “the forgotten sector” of tourist bus drivers, mentioning that staff numbers are not increased despite a record 16 million visitors.
CCOO, UGT and Intersindical gather tomorrow against “cuts” in Valencian healthcare / UGT-PV
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The protest in Tenerife will start from Plaza Weyler to Plaza del Príncipe down El Pilar street, while in Gran Canaria, it will begin at Parque San Telmo to Plaza de Santa Ana, in the capital of Grancanaria.
