Tenerife Island Council Races to Fill 224 Vacancies Amid Legal Deadlines

The Tenerife Island Council (Cabildo de Tenerife) is currently working to stabilize its workforce, a major administrative task involving 224 positions across 24 active recruitment processes. This effort combines 176 roles from the 2025 public employment offer with several pending vacancies from previous years. The Department of Human Resources, Public Service, and Digital Transformation, led by José Miguel Ruano and managed by Juan Manuel Santana, is under significant pressure to finalize these hires.

This process is not just a routine administrative update; it is a legal requirement. Under the Basic Statute of Public Employees (TREBEP), the Council has a strict three-year deadline to fill positions offered in public employment plans. If this window closes before the selection process is complete, the job offers expire, forcing the Council to start the entire process over. This uncertainty affects a wide range of essential roles, from legal technicians to environmental workers, whose job security remains in limbo due to these delays.

While the Cabildo allocates 121.6 million euros of its 1.278 billion euro budget to personnel, union representatives like Alejandro Dorta (CGT) warn that the institution remains understaffed in critical areas. The Council currently employs about 2,000 people directly, a number that grows to 7,500 when including autonomous bodies like the IASS and public companies like Titsa.

The current recruitment landscape is complex:

• Civil Servants: There are 678 applicants for three reserve lists, with the highest interest in Environmental Agent roles (581 applicants). The offer includes 118 open-access positions and 17 internal promotions, covering roles such as doctors, economists, IT technicians, and orderlies.
• Labor Personnel: There are 89 positions available, split between 44 open-access roles—such as maintenance and conservation workers—and 45 internal promotions, ranging from laboratory analysts to road department supervisors.

The Council is also working to comply with Law 20/2021, which aims to reduce the reliance on temporary contracts. Unions point out that failing to fill specific technical roles, such as electricians and locksmiths, makes these careers less attractive and perpetuates job instability. Furthermore, there is a noticeable gap between the vacancies listed in the official Job Position List (RPT) and the positions actually being advertised. With many staff members nearing retirement, unions are calling for more agile planning for the 2026 employment offer, which must be negotiated by the end of the year ahead of the May 6 union elections.