The workers demonstrate to claim more staff and better working conditions
Torredembarra Post Office workers took to the streets this Monday to demand a solution to the precarious situation they live in. According to the unions CCOO, UGT and CSIF, for five years the company has not covered leave or work permits, which generates an overload of work and a deterioration of the service. The employees say that they work with 35% less staff and that this affects them both physically and psychologically. “We have a lot of pressure to distribute everything and this is taking its toll on us,” declared the postal services secretary of Correus d’UGT in Tarragona, Joan Beltran. The workers warn that they will make new mobilizations if the problem is not solved.
A protest in front of the two Post Offices
A group of about twenty workers staged a protest at eight in the morning in front of the Post office where letters and packages are sorted, to denounce the cuts suffered by the service offered from Torredembarra. Before opening the shutter, the employees moved to the headquarters where the public is served, where they repeated the action.
Torredembarra, a particularly serious case
The trade unionists have explained that Torredembarra has eight sections that cover the rural services of nine municipalities – El Catllar, Creixell, La Nou de Gaià, La Pobla de Montornès, La Riera, Salomó and Vespella – as well as the distribution service of Altafulla , with two sections. In the afternoon shift, there is one full day and five part-times – of four hours – that serve Torredembarra, Altafulla and the nine municipalities, including all their urbanisations.
“The lack of staff is all over Spain, but the case of Baix Gaià is very alarming, the service is very poor, people complain about the postman and he is the least to blame, because he suffers firsthand,” he said the representative in the postal sector of CCOO of Tarragona, Jesús Velasco. “Fortunately, the people at the Post Office are very professional, but the situation is unbearable, it is necessary to hire and the company must change its attitude”, added the union representative.
Unions demand urgent measures
The unions indicate that the lack of staff causes a loss in the quality of the postal service, as the workforce cannot cover the entire distribution. “There is a lot of pressure, we have to go out and distribute quickly and nothing can be left, this affects the health of the worker,” said Beltran. For this reason, the three unions ask that measures be adopted to guarantee the provision of the postal service. Specifically, they claim coverage of structural sites in the Torredembarra Distribution Unit and rural areas. In addition, they demand to maintain the quality of working conditions. If they fail to reverse this situation, they warn that they will call for new protests.
