Employee representatives have expressed their concern about the limited communication from the council. The main worry revolves around job security and how the work of the new companies joining the service will be supervised.
The Santa Cruz City Council has indicated that the objective is to diversify the management of the home care service. They are working on a new tender which, they state, will guarantee the continuity of current employees, while also exploring alternatives through home-based services.
“"If the City Council has not been able to control a single company for the last ten or twelve years, how will it now control four, five, or seven, with whom it will sign these collaboration contracts?"
The union representation has reminded that workers operate with an hour bank and fear that users choosing companies could lead to an hour deficit for the main company. They emphasize the need for clear information about the changes to assess the impact on their jobs and to understand the municipal control mechanisms over the new entities.
Furthermore, it has been stressed that it is crucial for companies to comply with labor agreements and ensure that assistants only perform their designated duties, a recurring demand given the overload of tasks they often undertake in homes.
Although a meeting is scheduled for May 14 with the awarded company, Atende, the workers' representation believes that the Santa Cruz de Tenerife City Council is the one that should provide the necessary explanations. They criticize the municipal slowness in resolving incidents, which sometimes take up to a year to be addressed, and question how this situation will be managed with a larger number of companies involved.
