SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, July 30 (EUROPA PRESS) –
Workers’ Commissions and UGT have presented a report to the Provincial Social Security Executive of Las Palmas and Santa Cruz de Tenerife aimed at increasing the number of officials who provide their services in these entities in the Canary Islands.
Both unions have pointed out in a note that these offices have been suffering from a lack of personnel for months, which translates into poor service to citizens, and they understand that it must be increased by at least 64 real personnel in each province.
In the opinion of the unions, the design of the staffing of these offices has not taken into account the population increase of up to 30% observed in the Canary Islands in recent years, which has affected the level of service provision.
Likewise, they estimate that the high level of poverty has not been taken into account, together with the digital divide, which prevent access to certain services if it is not in person. This directly affects a greater number of Minimum Vital Income (IMV) files processed in proportion to the number of inhabitants.
The union organizations add that the classification of the provincial directorates of the Canary Islands has not been updated either, according to the burden they assume in the management and the number of attentions they carry out. They affirm that this situation has stagnated the structural growth of these entities on the islands, which means that there are fewer subdirectorates, fewer levels and fewer personnel.
Finally, CCOO and UGT consider that it is necessary to address the condition of insularity, as well as the fragmentation of the territory, which makes it difficult to serve populations far from the offices. As an example, they point out that Lanzarote and Fuerteventura are served by a single Attention and Information Center (CAISS) on each island, and it is a service that cannot be referred to other Centers in the province given its insular nature.
With seven officials in each of the INSS offices on these islands, in relation to the population level of 155,812 and 119,732 inhabitants of Lanzarote and Fuerteventura, respectively, there is a tiny number of officials who attend to a high number of the population, with all that this entails, the unions point out.
Regarding population fragmentation and dispersion, they indicate that on the island of Fuerteventura someone who wants to travel from Morro Jable to the Puerto del Rosario offices must travel a distance of 90 kilometers, which can mean a two and a half hour journey. between the outward and return journey, added to the waiting time and to the time it takes to attend to the office itself.
Insufficient List of Jobs
UGT and CCOO recall that the current list of jobs (RPT) of Social Security was created in 1988: “Since then, the profound changes in social reality have not translated into adaptations of this RPT, which has not increased the number of troops nor has it been reclassified to the provincial directorates according to the functions, load and levels of responsibility”.
From both union organizations it is also stressed that this is not the only problem, since the positions that are reflected in it as necessary are not fulfilled, since in the Canary Islands there is a lack of a high number of civil servants to complete the coverage of this.
According to the unions, “all of this goes to show, even more so, that the Social Security personnel of the Canary Islands are highly qualified, for reaching month after month levels of productivity similar to that of the rest of the State, with half the material means and personal, but it must also be said that it has reached a point where it is saturated, exhausted and, on occasions, defeated, not only due to the lack of personnel, but also because they have been enduring high levels of workload for a long time”.
UGT and CCOO recall that throughout the pandemic these staff continued to go to their jobs so that citizen care was not affected and they could collect benefits. “While all of Spain was suffering from forced confinement due to a serious pandemic, they fought so that all households received the benefits and rights that social security has committed to in the framework of its management,” they highlight.
