T E N E R I F E ’ S O N LY Issue 678
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W E E K LY N E W S PA P E R
12 November 2010 - 18 November 2010
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Canaries all set to strike again! THE CANARIAN branch of the Union - CCOO have announced public sector strikes to take place in the Canaries on Wednesday 15th December according to Spanish press. However the CCOO website states that the CCOO and UGT have called for National strikes on both the 15th and 18th December, the latter date being a mass change over day for those visiting the island for the whole festive period. The action is to demand that the government change its economic and social policy, change in depth the labour reform, remove the freezing of pensions for 2011, abandon the claim to increase the retirement age to 67 years and ensure benefits for those people who are unable to find work. The CCOO union announced the strike action in the Canarian public sector, this will include education – schools and colleges, health – hospitals and general administration for the 15th of December. One major issue over which the action is being taken in the Canaries is that of budget cuts and within the Autonomous Community reduced spending on the administrative and human resource management. The secretary general of the Federation of Teaching CCOO, José Ramón Barroso said at a news conference that the spending reduction agreement was published in the Official Gazette of the Canary Islands on the 2nd November “without consulting the trade unions and breaking the collective bar-
gaining, something that is used both by the Government of Spain and the Canary Islands.“ “The order spending cuts in administrative activity is a direct assault on essential public services such as education, health and general administration,” said Barroso. Also, he added, “It is a direct assault on the unions, because it leaves us no voice and no participation by Canarian public sector workers.” For Barroso, the resolution published in the BOC is rather the Canarian Government’s
intention, “because it is not standard until it is regulated by decrees or laws,” he said. The union leader said that due to deteriorating working conditions and cutting the budgets of the autonomous region, “It takes us back to 20 years ago, so that is the rationale for their union, together with the UGT, calling on workers of the public sector of the Canary Islands to strike on the 15th December. “This way of attacking the trade unions, and the contro-
versy created, should be treated by the Government of the Canary Islands with more caution, because speaking out against unions is going against the Constitution, “said Barroso. Asserting that the CCOO “will defend tooth and nail” the rule of law, and that “we
will not let you pull the ground what has been achieved with so many sacrifices.” For his part, Secretary General of Citizen Services, Pedro Moreno, predicted that “these Canarian budgets will explode socially.” “We do not deserve these
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budgets and worse, we have failed to resolve the crisis,” he said. For his part, Manuel Almeida, chief executive of a regional newspaper, told press that the Canaries Government are “not aware” of the manifestations of the trade union or the strike call, so that “now there is no answer” . The last strike was on Wednesday (29th Sept) a oneday General Strike by Spanish unions which paralysed the capital Santa Cruz, but had minimal effect here in the south. The story on the mainland though was very different. Then it was Spain’s first strike for eight years. The two main trade unions, CCOO and UGT had threatened wholesale disruption to all forms of travel, especially at airports, with the Government fighting them all the way. But the deadlock was finally broken when Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero’s Socialist Party climbed down. After all-night negotiations, José Blanco the Minister for Public Works, and union secretaries Antonio del Campo and José Javier Cubillo, reached a “global” agreement concerning minimum transport services during the strike. Transport Secretary Jose Luis Cachfeiro said the deal was put in place “to guarantee calm during the day of the strike”. At this stage it is unclear as to which services will be affected other than education, health and public service workers.