The workers of the externalized ‘escoletes’ in Palma have gathered again this Wednesday in Cort Square, waiting for the City Council to submit to the Court the documents justifying the imposition of minimum services that the unions consider «abusive.»
This morning’s mobilization, on the tenth day of an indefinite strike by workers demanding salary parity with their counterparts in directly managed centers, was attended by about thirty people, all those who were not required to be at their workplace.
All this, explained Pepa Ramis, the CCOO Education 0-3 representative, while waiting for the Palma City Council to send the documentation justifying the imposition of minimum services, ranging from 80 to 92 percent depending on the center.
The City Council has until Thursday to provide this information, something that the union’s legal services are not aware of having happened yet. Ramis speculated that Cort will wait until the last minute to submit the documentation with the intention of «undermining the strike as much as possible.»
«We have the feeling that they are looking the other way waiting for the workers to drown financially,» said Ramis, highlighting the economic hardship that the workers are experiencing by declaring an indefinite strike.
The union representative also lamented that the City Council has still not put forward a proposal to improve salaries to match those of employees in the integrated centers of the Municipal School of Infant Schools.
Currently, as Ramis recalled, there is a difference of between 600 and 700 euros monthly, but in certain professional categories, the amount rises to 900 euros.
Despite being in this situation, she explained, the only proposal to increase salaries has come from the concessionaire company, which they have rejected as insufficient.
The strike, she emphasized, stems from the lack of proposals from Cort, which, according to the unions, has repeatedly refused to sit down with the workers to negotiate since December.
Ramis demanded that the municipal government either amend the bidding contract to include a salary increase or draft a new one.
She lamented that in January, when they had already begun to demand this salary improvement, the current contract was automatically renewed, missing the opportunity to make changes.