Tenerife abattoir workers call indefinite strike

[Janet]

The 42 employees in the Matadero Insular, Tenerife's only abattoir in La Laguna, have gone on indefinite strike because they have not been paid since January. The workers say that when they failed to be paid in May, and were then told that June's extra payment was not going to be made – and indeed that there was no money to pay them for the rest of the year – it was the straw that broke the camel's back and so they decided, in desperation, to call the strike.

The island's abattoir workers are hardly coining it in, earning less than €1,000 a month, and without even those wages coming in for the last four and a half months they are in dire straits, many of them now fearing eviction because they have got behind with their mortgages. A major part of the problem seems to be that the abattoir is dependent on the Cabildo, and there is no public money. Privatization is a possibility, but sources say that with meat prices so low there is little commercial appetite for such a business. Meanwhile, the fresh meat shelves could start looking quite thin. JA

[Myrtle Hogan-Lance]

How the hell can these people spend money on stupid road signs and fail to pay the workers?  They know the workers work and need to be paid.  They are inhuman.   

[Michael]

Am I right in assuming that, knowing the unemployment situation is so dire, their employer is relying on their fear of losing their jobs to get away with not paying them?

In the UK they'd have been out at the start of the second week. 

[Janet]

exactly so, mac.

[Janet]

A promise given yesterday by the Tenerife Cabildo that it will provide the abattoir with €200,000 to clear the backlog of workers' wages has been met with total scepticism. The abattoir workers say they are not convinced by the promise and that the strike will continue if May's wages are not in place by the 27th of June. The Cabildo minister for Agricultura, Ganadería y Pesca, José Joaquín Bethencourt, says that the strike is unjustified because the payment will be made very soon – depending on bank negotiations. Rubén Bonilla, member of the abattoir's works committee, however, says that the Cabildo has already "guaranteed" the payment previously – and that the employees were still waiting for it, and so they had no faith in the Cabildo's ability or willingness to pay.

That lack of faith is understandable, indeed, since Sr Bethencourt's vague promise of money "soon" was accompanied by the equally vague comment that the future of the abattoir would have to be "discussed" because "one has to adapt to current circumstances". Sr Bethencourt blamed the abattoir workers for their "astronomical" pay demands and said that they should be reasonable given the exigencies of the market, which have resulted in low profit margins and reduced consumption. Unions say that these "sky high wage negotiations" saw rises in workers' income from €600 to up to a maximum of €1,000 per month – €12,000 or so per annum. I'm not sure how many would agree with the Cabildo that this is unreasonable, particularly when we see Canarian municipal politicians' salaries in the tens of thousands  - accompanied by claims recently that it's not enough and that "if you pay peanuts you get monkeys".

One would have hoped that in the current circumstances – i.e. in the middle of the second decade of the 21st century, even in economically hard times and in a remote corner of Europe – the concept of a decent day's pay – or even any pay - for a decent day's work was a concept recognized to be as natural and normal as the sun in the sky. Apparently not. Workers say they'll lift the strike and return to work when they see money in the bank. I for one don't blame them. JA

[Myrtle Hogan-Lance]

Me either.  Solidarity with them like with the lifeguards.

[Michael]

One would have hoped that in the current circumstances – i.e. in the middle of the second decade of the 21st century, even in economically hard times and in a remote corner of Europe – the concept of a decent day's pay – or even any pay - for a decent day's work was a concept recognized to be as natural and normal as the sun in the sky. Apparently not. Workers say they'll lift the strike and return to work when they see money in the bank. I for one don't blame them. JA

Too bloody right. 

[Janet]

The Cabildo has has paid half of May's outstanding wages and is promising to make the second payment when it has the funds to do so, which it says should be by tomorrow. Consejero insular de Agricultura, Ganadería y Pesca, José Joaquín Bethencourt, said that he felt "absolutely optimistic" of resolving the problem in the next 24 hours, though qualified the statement with a comment that the future of the abattoir had to be discussed. Workers say, however, that the strike will start as planned on Thursday if the funds are not in place by then, and stressed that although the Cabildo's position represented "an advance", it was "not sufficient to call off the strike", particularly since June is nearly over, meaning another month's wages will have to be paid. Their position is, essentially, give us the money we're owed and we'll work. JA

[Janet]

 Well, at the last minute the strike has been called off - for the moment. May's wages have now been paid in full, but given that the second half of the payment was not in fact made by the Cabildo as promised, but topped up by local farmers who need the abattoirs to process the meat they supply, this is not a problem that is going to evaporate. How long before a strike looms again? Indeed, June's payment together with the normal extra half year payment is due next week, and workers say they won't think twice about resuming the strike if those payments are late. JA

[Janet]

Apparently it's all the farmers' fault ...

So says the Cabildo, anyway. Actually it's the fault of the farmers, butchers, and Ayuntamientos.

Again I'm losing the plot, or the will to live ....

Can anyone see why? To me, it's a load of words that sound like blah blah blah, without once explaining WHY it's the fault of anyone other than the Cabildo ...