Skepticism of the Hidramar Committee Regarding the Return of Luis Ibarra

The workers' committee of Hidramar, one of the most important ship repair companies established in the port of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, sends the following statement to the editor-director of puentedemando.com:

“Yesterday we woke up to the news of Mr. Luis Ibarra's proposal for the position of president of the Port of La Luz and Las Palmas by the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party. As workers of Hidramar, we can only express our surprise and discontent at seeing that an organization with such a historical, political, and social background as the PSOE is unable to find a better candidate to lead the destiny of the port, one of the fundamental engines of job creation and well-being in our society.

We want to remind that Luis Ibarra already presided over the Port Authority of Las Palmas for almost seven years, and those were years marked by accusations and investigations into various officials; years in which public servants prepared and optimized projects for private companies; years of regression in practically all port statistics; years of granting public concessions and resolving tenders in favor of companies that have declared financial losses. Moreover, these were years in which million-dollar investments in the port that would have created almost 1000 jobs were repeatedly rejected. Not to mention the projects and awards that, despite being approved, were never initiated. Yesterday, the newspaper La Provincia published an interview in which Ibarra promises to carry out “the need to find space for Hidramar.” We will be vigilant to ensure he keeps his word, but we also want to ask him why he did not do this during the seven years he held the presidency of the Port Authority, where he has done nothing but disregard the needs of the company we work for in favor of others.

We also wonder why, given all this, Luis Ibarra is proposed again as a candidate to preside over the Port Authority. Certainly, it cannot be due to his successful political career: he has been practically the only frontline politician in the Canary Islands who has not managed to take over the administration for which he ran. Not even with the support of the socialist current or with an intense media campaign has he achieved anything more than a vice-presidency of the council that, according to rumors, he would not be able to maintain due to his inability to do politics and negotiate with the current president of the island entity.

Perhaps, to understand the lack of votes for Luis Ibarra, one must take a look at the employment generated currently in our port. If there is something that predominates, it is the model of perpetual subcontracting, in which companies always remain below 49 workers to avoid social and fiscal responsibilities. A model that Ibarra has always favored, but with which he miscalculated: each businessman benefited by the port lobby adds one vote, but each of those 49 workers in precarious employment situations adds even more votes.

The current situation at the Port of Las Palmas is as unjust as it is unsustainable. For years, Hidramar has been requesting the expansion of its facilities to attract more and better projects and impact the corresponding part of the economy not only of the port but of the entire island. But of course, that would mean implementing a second shipyard in the Canary Islands with sufficient dry-docking capacity to compete on equal terms with the currently existing one. And yes, we know that the strategy of perpetual subcontracting allows that shipyard to control all business associations and port clusters, but it also leaves them unable to present a challenge and win against the slightest competition.

We take pride in being the ship repair company in Gran Canaria with the most employees, even though our annual revenue is lower than that of the competition. And this is the model we advocate: a model that cares for workers and bets on them in the long term, not exclusively relying on subcontracting. Thanks to this company hiring instead of subcontracting, more than 200 Canary Island families have a source of income today.

We are a human group that has not only managed to stay afloat over the years but has also learned to unite and row in the same direction to achieve our goal. We are tired of seeing daily how most companies in the port are trampled and mistreated while a few benefit.

Hidramar is a Canarian company, with Canarian capital that decides to invest in the Canary Islands. And from the port authority, there are only obstacles to its development. Are we blind? Do we want it to join the long list of companies that, fed up with so much mistreatment, decide to leave the islands? The workers of Hidramar are clear: we will do everything in our power to ensure that the company continues to invest in the Canary Islands.

Enough with injustices. We believe in a fair, competitive, equitable port that generates wealth for the entire island, not just for a few.”

Photo: provided