Dependency workers' indefinite strike begins: "We're dragging on in a pathetic situation."

PalmThe workers of the Dependency Foundation began their indefinite strike this Wednesday, with a follow-up rate of between 85 and 90%. Their first protest action was a rally outside the headquarters of the Department of Families, Social Welfare, and Care for Dependent People in Palma, which brought together around 100 protesters. According to Marina Martínez, the president of the inter-center committee of the Dependency Foundation, the follow-up rate on this first day of the strike reached between 85 and 90 percent of the 850 workers who work in a dozen centers and residences in Mallorca and Ibiza. Specifically, they are workers from the Son Llebre, Son Tugores, and Son Güells residences in Mallorca and Can Raspall, Can Blai, and Sa Serra in Ibiza. They also work from the Adult Care and Support Service and the Sa Riera Occupational Center. Those who are at their jobs to cover the decreed minimum services, she assured, also expressed their support for the demonstrations and their "firm will to support the strike."

According to a statement from the CSIF, they gathered this morning outside their respective workplaces to demonstrate their support for the strike. "We have endured a pathetic situation that cannot be sustained any longer, and the workers have said enough," Martínez stated in statements to the media.

The union leader announced that during their demands before the Mediation and Arbitration Tribunal of the Balearic Islands (Tamib), they plan to meet again with the department headed by Minister Sandra Fernández and the Ministry of Labor, Civil Service, and Social Dialogue on October 27 "to follow up on the conflict." "We were hoping for a firm proposal to resolve the conflict, but the one we've received is of no use to us; we're not even sure the Civil Service will validate this agreement," he said.

Contact with the regional administration "has not been broken," but the workers have decided "to no longer endure this situation." "We're saying enough," he added. Their main demand, he emphasized, is improved working conditions and equal pay with workers in the sector who are directly employed by the government, who earn between €200 and €500 more per month depending on their job category. "We're earning salaries far below those of our colleagues who perform similar tasks, and that's not even considering their career paths. It's a huge difference, and we have much inferior conditions," he said.

Starting at 11:00 a.m. this Wednesday, around 100 people gathered in front of the regional government building with banners bearing messages such as "Decent work for sale #GOIB," "Dependency, wage bidding, labor dignity," and "We are essential." They remained there until 12:00 p.m., during which time they chanted various slogans and made noise with whistles and drums. A rally has also been called in front of the Base Center in Ibiza.

The strike organizers have warned that the rallies will be repeated every day, at the same time and in the same locations, until the government "provides a real solution that allows for dignifying the working conditions of professionals who care for dependency."

Lack of stability

The president of the Son Güells day care center committee, Isabel García, has focused on the additional difficulties posed by "the lack of staff," given that many of the centers follow a "person-centered" model that requires stability. "We need staff members to be established, to know the residents in order to provide them with good service. With staff changes, it's impossible because they aren't established and don't know the residents. And if we have new people, it's like starting over every time," she noted. Although the situation is especially complicated in Ibiza, where "many vacant positions remain unfilled," the staff shortage extends to the other centers managed by the Foundation for Dependency. "Today we are using minimal services, but in reality we are always using minimum ratios, so there is no difference," she asserted.