The union representation of the Municipal Cleaning Service of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria has expressed deep distrust towards the municipal government group. The main concern lies in the change of the service's legal model, which will become a public company, similar to other entities currently under judicial scrutiny. The employees, over 400, warn of a possible "uncontrolled use of public money" and the deconstruction of their labor reality.
Following a meeting lacking consensus between municipal officials and company committees, the labor side feels they made a mistake by calling off a strike planned for November. Workers learned about the project, which went to a plenary session in May last year, through the media and criticize the lack of information and the process's handling by the area's councilor, Héctor Alemán.
They assert that despite offering dialogue to reformulate a management model they consider obsolete, they have not received a written guide, the statement of reasons, or the financial intervention report, which are mandatory elements according to external studies. The City Council, for its part, states that it has presented the model's aspects and the results of technical reports concluding that a local commercial company is the most efficient and sustainable formula, to be named Sociedad Municipal de Higiene Urbana.
The primary concern for the current 417 workers is the defense of their jobs and labor conditions. Although the City Council assures they will not be affected during the transitional period, there are no guarantees once the new company is fully operational. The urgency of the government group, led by Carolina Darias, to resolve the conversion in the June plenary session generates unease, and they warn of judicial and social mobilizations. Furthermore, they report being denied a space for an assembly and having received "threats".
Professionals distrust the creation of a new company, fearing a disguised privatization, reduced controls, and "handpicked" hiring. They point out that they have been told the City Council would inject money to cover any "economic hole," similar to what recently happened at the Promotion Society. They regret not being involved in the new company's creation process, despite being stakeholders, and criticize that emergency contracts have not benefited the public sector.
The company committees plan to exert pressure by meeting with other parties in the government coalition (Nueva Canarias, Unidas Sí Podemos, and José Eduardo Ramírez), accusing the PSOE of "lying to them" for three years and seeking to know their position on the plenary vote.
The official version from the City Council, communicated in a press release, states that the proposal includes maintaining public employment, the subrogation of rights and obligations, and the continuity of the staff. They claim to have offered a space for assemblies. According to technical reports supporting the initiative, the public commercial company will improve planning, streamline administrative procedures, and strengthen the service's response capacity.
