About thirty pensioners have concentrated on Tuesday in Palma to demand that the Government “force” banking entities to provide decent services to the elderly. They have been the Neighbors of the Son Cladera neighborhood and the sections of CCOO and UGT pensioners who have called the concentration this morning in front of the headquarters of the Balearic Government delegation to expose their claims.
The protesters have carried banners in which messages could be read as They force banks to give us decent attention” either What do we do with people who do not know how to operate in a cashier? and have proclaimed slogans as We want a face -to -face office.
“After having made steps with the bank and that they have not given us any solution, we ask the Government to take measures and force the banks to serve the elderly,” the representative of the residents of Son Cladera, explained in statements to the media, Juan Sánchez.
In the Palmesano neighborhood, it has stated, there is no bank office despite having about 10,000 inhabitants. Yes there is an ATM, but this one is 500 meters from the area and to reach it the elderly should cross a field, “with the danger that that entails.”
«People are afraid to go and they don’t go alone, they ask a child, a grandson, whoever, accompany them. And that is very sad, where is the intimacy and independence of the person when you cannot do things even being able to do them due to lack of planning of the banks? ”Sánchez said.
In addition to extending their claims to the Central Executive – with which they have not yet maintained contacts, he has admitted – they will also go to Government when he understands that It is a problem that, although it happens in several parts of Spain, especially affects the archipelago.
Among the possible solutions, the neighborhood representative proposes that the Administration force the installation of mobile offices that alternate days to cover the needs of pensioners. “That they open a couple of days a week, at least so that we do not have to depend on anyone to make our efforts,” he said.
For his part, the Secretary General of the Federation of Retirees and Pensioners of CCOO, Mateu Bosch, He has urged the government to legislate so that banks offer a “decent service”, given that older people are forced to open a bank account.
«In recent years, about 19,000 banking offices have been closed throughout Spain, and in the Balearic Islands about 50% of those there were. With the mergers that have left less banking entities and then the offices are closed, ”he lamented.
Protesters have been surrounded by the Secretary General of CCOO in Balearic Islands, José Luis Garcia.
