Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/2014/03/03/jobseeker_advice/
Jobless mum claims Spanish councillor told her to 'go on the game'
... or give her kid up for adoption – report
Posted in Bootnotes, 3rd March 2014 05:58 GMT
A councillor in the Spanish town of Villarrobledo has probably had his chances of picking up the municipality's "Citizen of the Year" trophy blown after allegations surfaced that he had told a young jobseeking mum to hit the streets in search of cash.
This report alleges that 21-year-old Ángeles María Herreros rolled up at Villarrobledo's town hall last week in search of fruitful employment to support her infant daughter.
According to Herreros, employment councillor Andrés Martínez López, of Spain's ruling Partido Popular (PP), first advised her to put her name on the waiting list for jobs. This was impossible, she replied, since the list was open only to those over 25 years of age.
She then asked López how exactly she could feed her nipper, at which point he allegedly said: "Well, you give her up for adoption or you go on the game."
A "stupefied" Herreros went home, picked up her hubby and mother-in-law and returned to the town hall to demand an explanation, she claimed.
López at first received the trio "quietly" in the lobby, but once behind a closed office door, she claimed, he kicked back into "contemptuous and disrespectful" mode.
Both Herreros and her mother-in-law were attended by medical services after suffering "anxiety attacks", while "local police intervention was also required", El Diario de Castilla-La Mancha explains.
The paper claims López has a bit of previous form when it comes to giving short shrift to jobseekers. "Go and get a job abroad" and "don't come back I'm sick of the sight of you" are allegedly among his finest moments.
Yesterday, the PP issued a statement describing Herreros's claims as "completely false". It insisted that if she and her relatives didn't withdraw the accusations - now presented formally to the Guardia Civil - it would take "appropriate legal action".
Furthermore, the party noted, there are currently no municipal jobs available to locals, irrespective of age.
The opposition Partido Socialista Obrero Español (PSOE), meanwhile, is demanding López's resignation.
The Partido Popular holds power in Villarrobledo by just one councillor. In the 2011 municipal elections it secured 10 seats to the PSOE's nine.
Recent figures reported unemployment in Spain at over 26 per cent, representing 5.9 million people out of work. ®