The 450 workers of the Santa Rita Homethe largest residence for the elderly in Spainthey still do not receive the payroll for January 2023. Despite the fact that the Council of Tenerife maintains 374 concerted places in this nursing home, for which it contributes more than 6 million euros annually to the Hogar Santa Rita Canarian Foundation, the staff once again suffers a new delay in the payment of their salaries. Santa Rita already paid late in April, July and September 2022, and the situation repeats itself again in February 2023.
The person in charge of the Federation of Health of the Sociosanitary Sector of CCOO in Tenerife, alexis rodriguezrecognizes that they are fed up with these delays that affect workers whose net salary reaches an average of “barely 900 euros”and again points directly to the manager, Thomas Villarwhom he accuses of not being farsighted and not taking measures “as simple as reaching an agreement with a bank to advance the payroll.”
“The manager hides behind delays in the payments of the Institute of Social and Socio-Health Care (IASS), which depends on the Cabildo, but at the same time boasts of the solvency situation of the foundation. When we ask him to access a line of credit, he tells us that he already has it, but the delays continue,” he laments. alexis rodriguez.
The responsible counselor of the IASS, Marian Franquethas assured in the Ser that at each beginning of the year there are delays in payments, until the entry into force of the budget, “so the entities that work with the IASS have it in anticipation and the reality is that they only occur problems in the Santa Rita Home“, the Mint.
“Once again we find ourselves with fait accompli and news of agreements with banking entities that in the end come to nothing”
alexis rodriguez underlines the problems suffered by the families of the workers at Hogar Santa Rita, who cannot meet their obligations and suffer surcharges from banks. “They do not pay and there is no prior communication to the workers’ representatives. Once again we find ourselves with fait accompli and news of agreements with banking entities that in the end come to nothing. It is a deterioration with no sign of a solution if nobody forces this man (Tomás Villar) to step aside ”, insists this CCOO representative.
For Rodriguez, “either from the Council of Tenerife or from the Government of the Canary Islands, someone should watch over these 374 concerted places. This province cannot afford to lose them, it is something of social interest and, as it is, the administrations must guarantee the proper functioning of this center”.
“It is a private foundation, but we will have to find a way to intervene because it is clear that if these beds were not arranged, the Hogar Santa Rita would be unviable and all the workers would lose their jobs. Neither of the two things can be allowed, so the mechanism will have to be found to intervene in the foundation for a social interest. The IASS still does not enter the board of trustees that manages the foundation and the argument is always the same: the legacy of Father Antonio. When that legacy is being trampled on every three months”, Rodríguez censures.
The Board of Trustees of the Fundación Canaria Hogar Santa Rita refuses to allow the Cabildo, through the IASS, and the representatives of the workers to be represented in the body that manages the residence. alexis rodriguez He qualifies that “we have not asked for the unions to be there, only the works council, whose composition may vary.” Regarding the refusal for the Cabildo to access the board of trustees, CCOO considers it an inconsistency “when they later complain that the banks do not give them credit. Having the Cabildo de Tenerife there would be an absolute guarantee”.
“The situation is clear: the managing director is the problem, but the Board of the Foundation is in full collusion with this situation”, warns this union leader.
This union praises the professionalism of the workers at Hogar Santa Rita, who continue to fulfill their obligations despite reaching the 10th day without receiving their salaries. However, he acknowledges that “the minds of these workers cannot stop thinking about the concerns and problems caused by the delay in paying their salaries. Working in those conditions is not pleasant for anyone. and less in a center like this, which works with the elderly. They don’t even have the certainty of receiving that precarious salary on time with which they must live”.
The workers of Hogar Santa Rita They already demonstrated at the gates of the center in September 2022 to show their fed up with the delay in the payment of their salaries and warn of the possibility of a strike if the situation persisted. Since then, the top financial manager of the foundation has continued to be in the crosshairs of the unions, which unsuccessfully requested his resignation in May 2022, considering him “solely responsible for the problems suffered by this residence and the main obstacle for them to be able to resolve”.
