The long-running conflict over hotel workers’ wages and working conditions in Tenerife and several other islands shows no signs of nearing a solution.
Yesterday saw a conciliation meeting to try and resolve the main issues behind the dispute but no progress was made and the three trade unions involved have issued a stark warning that strike action will be taken on the islands making up the province of Sanat Cruz de Tenerife (Tenerife, La Palma, El Hierro and La Gomera) this summer unless wage demands are met.
The unions are pressing for a 6.5% pay increase for tens of thousands of employees of hotels and apartment complexes in order to reflect the loss of purchasing power in recent years and to take account of the rise in the cost of living, particularly the spiralling housing prices that are forcing many workers to move far from their workplaces.
The prospect of a prolonged strike at the height of the summer season in July and August, following on the heels of the damaging walkouts over the Easter period, is of major concern to the Tenerife authorities, especially given the entrenched positions of the two sides in conflict.
A union source said after yesterday’s failed meeting that the hotel sector is benefiting massively from the record numbers of holidaymakers in recent years but is not prepared to share the benefits with the workers on whom their profits depend.
As concern mounts that news of a potential dispute may deter tourists from booking holidays on the islands affected, pressure is increasing on Canarian president Fernando Clavijo and tourism minister Jessica de León to mediate in the bitter conflict.
The unions have given the two main employers’ associations in the hotel and restaurant sector, Ashotel and Aero, two weeks to accept their wage demands or the strikes will be called. The early signs are, however, that another bitter standoff is on the cards, bearing in mind that the employers reacted to the Easter walkouts by withdrawing the late pay offer made to the unions in a bid to avert the strike.
