Canary Islands sets minimum services in Social Welfare and Culture for the general strike

The Government of the Canary Islands has established the minimum services that must be provided today, November 11, 2026, in the departments of Social Welfare, Equality, Youth, Childhood and Families and Universities, Science, Innovation and Culture during the general strike. This is done through the Order of November 5, 2026 and the Order of November 9, 2026, published in the Official Gazette of the Canary Islands (BOC) no. 225, of November 11, 2026. Both texts take effect from 00:00 hours until the end of the working day on the same date.

The call for a strike affects the entire State and is signed by the General Confederation of Labor (CGT), the Intersindical Confederation, the Actors and Actresses Union and CCOO-UGT, to which the Culture order adds the Class Syndical Alternative (ASC), the Direct Action Syndical Organization (OSAD) and the Canarian Intersindical Syndical Confederation (IC). The strike is for a full working day, although in centers organized by shifts, it may begin in the last shift prior to 00:00 hours and end at the conclusion of the last shift on the 11th.

The two orders are based on Decree 24/1987, of March 13, establishing minimum services in the Administration of the Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands (BOC no. 32, of March 16), and on article 29.1 of the Territorial Law 14/1990, of July 26. The preambles invoke the doctrine of the Constitutional Court to reconcile the right to strike with other protected interests, such as the protection of minors under article 39.4 of the Constitution. The remaining regional departments had published their own instructions in the BOC no. 224, of November 10, 2026.

Protection of minors and preschools

The General Directorate for the Protection of Childhood and Families will maintain a technical team in each province, including psychologists, educators, and social workers from the Minor Prevention and Protection and Juvenile Justice services. Their duties include formalizing foster care, processing declarations of abandonment and guardianship, assuming voluntary custody, declaring the suitability of foster parents, and executing confinement measures ordered by the Juvenile Courts.

In preschools for children aged zero to three, management, kitchen, educational, and cleaning staff are designated in thirteen centers:

• La Atalaya, Aridaman and Santa María de Guía (La Fuente)
• Las Folias, Anaga, Añaza, Asunción and Bentenuya
• El Drago, Niño Jesús, San Miguel Arcángel, Virgen del Carmen and Aguamansa

The order justifies this coverage based on the right to work and education for working families who use these centers.

Dependency, equality and social services

In the General Directorate of Social Services and Immigration, one support staff member for the management is designated, five staff members in the Mabel building in Tenerife, and personnel in the Usos Múltiples II building in Las Palmas, in addition to the two Casa del Mar Hostels in Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Las Palmas, used by sailors and nautical training students. The Pensions and Integration Aid Service will have a minimum team of six workers in each province to process the Canarian Insertion Benefit.

The general directorates of Dependency and Disability set 50% of the personnel in the assessment and orientation services, given the waiting list to assess degrees and access benefits from the Dependency Care System. In the Canarian Institute for Equality, at least one person is required to advise potential female users, due to the function of prevention and comprehensive protection against gender-based violence.

Libraries, archives and cultural registry

The Culture order details the positions that will remain operational, with morning and afternoon shifts:

• Canary Islands Library BPE Santa Cruz de Tenerife, on Comodoro Rolín Street, with one administrative assistant per shift and two archive and library assistants in the afternoon
• Canary Islands Library BPE Las Palmas, on Muelle Street, with service management in the morning and one administrative assistant in the afternoon
• Registry Service of the General Directorate of Culture and Cultural Heritage in Santa Cruz de Tenerife and in Las Palmas, with service management and administrative personnel
• Historical Archive of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, in La Laguna, and Historical Archive of Las Palmas, with one higher degree holder at each site

The resolutions warn that both orders are subject to an optional appeal for reversal within one month and a contentious-administrative appeal within two months; the Social Welfare order adds the appeal for the protection of fundamental rights, with a ten-day deadline. The Social Welfare order is signed by counselor María Candelaria Delgado Toledo and the Culture order by counselor Migdalia María Machín Tavío.

The scope of these decisions is immediate for thousands of Canarian families: parents who need preschools to be able to work, minors under the guardianship of the autonomous community, people on the dependency waiting list, and women who attend gender-based violence services. The minimum services determine which care continues to function during the strike day and who must report to their post despite the strike.

Source: Official Gazette of the Canary Islands, no. 225, November 11, 2026, section III. Other Resolutions, pp. 40810-40818 and 40865-40867 (official reference: boc-a-2026-225-3899 and boc-a-2026-225-3903).