Changes for Denia’s lifesaving service

THE Red Cross will no longer provide the lifesaving service on Denia’s beaches.

Pepe Domenech, the hall councillor responsible for the municipality’s beaches, explained to the local Spanish media that the Red Cross will not be putting in a bid for the new contract.

This was not because it was not financially viable, Domenech said, as the town hall had actually increased the two-year contract by €120,00 to approximately €800,000.

Instead the organisation’s provincial and national governing bodies were concentrating all their efforts “on other priorities” including the humanitarian crisis resulting from the Ukraine war.

The new contract had been based on the increase in Spain’s minimum wage, Domenech said, after the town hall annulled the conditions of the earlier agreement.

The lifesavers’ timetable has been increased throughout the high season and there will be two more on duty during the low season.  The contract also requires the new concessionary to take on the 103 employees previously working for Red Cross, Domenech confirmed.

“They will not lose this work opportunity, regardless of the company that wins the contract,” he said.