The employment relationships in the hotel sector in the province of Tenerife were the subject of analysis at the third edition of Tourtalks, dialogues to rethink tourism, promoted by Ashotel, this time together with the Tourism Chair CajaCanarias-Ashotel-ULL and with the collaboration of the CajaCanarias Foundation. The meeting brought together experts and researchers in labor relations, entrepreneurs, and union representatives in various aspects related to the social group of hotel establishments, addressing the staff profile, work absenteeism, psychosocial risks, or the most significant aspects of the collective bargaining agreement for hotel management in the province of Tenerife.
With the presentation and moderation by the journalist and Content Director of Cadena Ser in Canarias Marta Cantero, the welcome was given by the Labor Law and Social Security Professor at the University of La Laguna (ULL) and president of the CajaCanarias Foundation, Margarita Ramos, and the director of the Tourism Chair, Raúl Hernández. Ramos considered the motto of the conference appropriate and advocated for promoting research and conducting more studies around tourism, in collaboration with entities and organizations like those present at the event.
On the other hand, Hernández, who thanked Ashotel and CajaCanarias for “absolutely respecting the research independence of the Chair,” considered dialogue and calm analysis around Canary Islands tourism more necessary than ever. “The pillar of social sustainability is gaining strength in these times, after remaining more blurred compared to economic and environmental sustainability,” he commented.
Social Security
Next, the Sociology and Anthropology Professor at ULL, Rosa Marrero, focused her intervention on a macro view of the sector’s workforce profile. The percentage of Social Security affiliations in hospitality in the Canary Islands is 18.3% of the employed population (166,000 people), highlighting the drop in temporary contracts following the latest labor reform, from 33% in 2021 to the current 13%, while the figure of fixed-term discontinuous contracts has increased from 4.6% in 2021 to the current 11.2%.
Marrero also pointed out that this sector has a higher volume than the average of young staff (18.5%), and 35.5% have a high school diploma, an educational level that has been increasing in recent years. In this regard, she mentioned during the event that the Dual Vocational Training will come into effect in the 2024-2025 academic year, “a golden opportunity for the entire productive fabric of the Canary Islands.”
Mónica Molina, a lawyer and Associate Professor of Labor Law at ULL, reflected as a specialist in the collective agreement of the province of Tenerife on the most outstanding characteristics of this regulatory framework. She explained that the first sector agreement emerged in 1993, a rule that repealed the Francoist hotel labor ordinance of 1974.
However, the current agreement still maintains the service percentage pay system, calculated based on the revenue of each department in an accommodation establishment. “There were employees who received a higher wage than others for work of equal value; for example, in the restaurant area, more was billed than in the kitchen, leading to inequality,” she explained. That is why the provincial agreement includes the concept of the company agreement, which has allowed for direct negotiation between committees and companies. “These agreements complement salary tables and enable the presence of unions in companies, as the negotiation is always ongoing,” she added.
Molina advocated for the agreement formula in this meeting because it allows for diverse cases according to the needs and characteristics of each company. Likewise, Ignacio de Lojendio, a social graduate and labor advisor, dissected the agreement and delved into the articles he considered most relevant in its application, as well as the challenges faced daily by Human Resources departments of accommodation facilities.
