Care workers demonstrated this Friday outside the City Hall of Santa Cruz de Tenerife to protest against the service provision and the mistreatment and harassment they have experienced. “We will no longer remain silent about issues that breach our rights, and we will no longer accept less education and respect; we are predominantly a female group, and none should have to work in fear,” they stated.
“We will not tolerate further humiliations or mistreatment, irrespective of making public and denouncing any infringement of our rights or dignity. The home help service (SAD) in this city has provoked discontent after years of suffering and silent endurance. We have risen and will fight to give this crucial and vocational profession the respect it deserves,” they warned. “Not one more instance of sexual harassment in homes,” they asserted through megaphones.
The demonstrators gathered this Friday outside the City Council of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, where they also presented a manifesto during the plenary session. “Today we are here to insist on compliance with the law and to allow us to perform the roles for which we are trained, prepared, and equipped… We are socio-healthcare workers, we are home care assistants, we are not domestic cleaning staff,” they reminded the assembly.
“This City Council has completely devalued the service, nullified our responsibilities, and infringed our rights; they use us to gain votes while neglecting the fundamental needs of those who truly require our assistance. This is a public service funded by taxpayers’ money, yet the primary concern for this City Council and the private firms managing it is to maximise billable hours at the cost of our physical and mental wellbeing,” the manifesto states.
The workers assert that this service “should be directly provided by a public entity, but contrary to that, this City Council aims to offer us in a catalogue for users through private businesses, completely disregarding their duties. Citizens need to be aware that this agenda will impact us financially and diminish the quality of life for everyone, and we must not permit it.”
In the manifesto, SAD workers from Santa Cruz de Tenerife demand respect for their roles. “We ask for acknowledgment of our vocation, we demand dignity, enough of abuse and manipulation of our physical and mental wellbeing, and we advocate for all those individuals who genuinely need us and appreciate our presence in their lives and homes.”
Furthermore, they emphasised that they provide a public, quality, and humane service, stating, “There are not merely three or four hours a week allocated to buff tiles, clean rooftops and walls as this City Council seems to suggest. A quality service involves assisting, listening, supporting, and fostering social integration, and it is unacceptable for part of the population to be supported by sending someone treated as a subordinate into their homes.”
The workplaces have also garnered support from numerous organisations. Their call to action comes at a time when the City Council is promoting the privatisation of the service, just weeks following allegations from various workers regarding the harassment situations they are enduring in their roles.
