Less subsidies and cutting expenses on advisors, CSIF’s recipes to combat a hypothetical dismissal of public officials
The president of the Independent Trade Union and Civil Servants (CSIF) in Castilla-La Mancha, Lorenzo Domínguez, has expressed his frustration for not being able to meet with the regional president, Emiliano García-Page, after several failed requests from the union. He has demanded more dialogue, highlighting that they are the majority organization within the public sector.
«The president of Castilla-La Mancha does not have dialogue with the CSIF as he does with other social agents. We are the majority social agent in the public sector in Castilla-La Mancha and we believe that dialogue should be established to try to reverse the current cuts in public services in Castilla-La Mancha,» he stated in an interview with Europa Press.
Domínguez cannot understand why, after ten months at the helm of the CSIF, the regional president has not received him, despite sending his demands in writing. «He is not snubbing me by not meeting with me, he is doing it in this way to the affiliates, the voters, the union delegates, because we are all Castilian-Manchegos.»
RECIPES TO AVOID DISMISSING 2,500 EMPLOYEES
Regarding the warning issued by the regional president that the door is open to dismissing 2,500 public employees if there are no General State Budgets, Domínguez argued that before resorting to layoffs, «we must see where» other expenses can be reduced in high-ranking positions, advisors, or subsidies to other unions.
«We can end the million-euro subsidies we are giving to other unions, which amount to 43.9 million euros, with the over 148 high-ranking positions in Castilla-La Mancha, which amount to nearly 11 million euros per year, or with the over 400 advisors spread across all provinces,» he asserted.
«There are many areas where we can cut back to avoid dismissing public employees, who are always the scapegoat in this situation, and we believe ‘enough is enough’, we have to say ‘enough is enough’, manage the public money of the Castilian-Manchegos well,» he stated.
Faced with García-Page’s statements, the CSIF leader pointed out, «public employees, logically, are concerned,» while adding that temporary positions in the regional Administration «remain very high.» «The goal of reducing it from 24% to 8% by the end of the year is not being met, if we have a national average of 28%, here, according to the latest data we have, we exceed it, we are around 37.2%,» he explained.
«TAKING CARE OF PUBLIC EMPLOYEES»
He lamented that this government is not taking care of public employees, who are the «driving force in the region,» with 136,000 public workers, recalling that the cuts made by the PP government in this area are still in effect.
«I can tell you that during Cospedal’s time, significant cuts were made to public employees, and then the election results, well, there they are. Now, we continue with cuts, so the citizen, the public employee, the worker in general, will have to assess that, the management, and vote and see what happens,» he asserted.
Asked if the «cuts» formula could backfire on García-Page’s government in the same way it did on María Dolores de Cospedal, the CSIF leader stated that it is not his role to «threaten» and sees room for «those cuts to be reversed at this time.»