Coalición Canaria Demands Government Action Over Postal Service Failures in Canary Islands
Coalición Canaria has formally challenged the Spanish government in Congress over severe operational failures and staffing shortages causing significant postal delivery backlogs across the Canary Islands.
Postal services in Santa Cruz de Tenerife have become a matter of parliamentary debate after Coalición Canaria raised the issue in Congress. Deputy Cristina Valido has formally asked the central government to address operational failures reported by the Comisiones Obreras (CCOO) trade union, which suggest that the national postal service is struggling to meet demand across the islands.
The primary complaint concerns poor human resources management. Union representatives state that a failure to hire temporary staff during vacation periods has left over 7,000 letters piling up in various post offices. This backlog is causing significant delays, including the late delivery of important administrative notifications that are now missing their legal deadlines.
The problem is not limited to Tenerife; the union reports widespread disorganization across the region. In La Gomera and El Hierro, services are reportedly in disarray, while staff in La Palma are struggling under an increased workload due to a lack of personnel. Similar issues are occurring at the provincial Automated Treatment Center, where poor planning has created a bottleneck that threatens to halt operations entirely.
In light of these reports, Valido has demanded that the government confirm the accuracy of these claims and outline how it plans to address the staffing shortages and improve logistics. She noted that this is part of a long-standing pattern of complaints regarding declining service quality, including previous concerns about an aging vehicle fleet that employees say is unsafe to operate.
This situation has reignited the debate over the quality of universal postal services in island territories, where geographical isolation makes any supply chain disruption or hiring failure particularly damaging. Coalición Canaria’s intervention highlights growing frustration over the degradation of an essential public service that workers argue is no longer equipped to function efficiently.