Santa Cruz de Tenerife 18 Apr. (Press Europa) –
Base trade union representatives have maintained their estimate of 70% participation in the tourist strike within the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife on its second day of protests, and they have reported “threats” from companies regarding the minimum services mandated by the Canary Islands government.
The trade union organisation elaborated on this in a statement, adding that this figure is derived from initial participation data gathered from various informative pickets at the hotels.
“The staff has adhered to the directives to fail to fulfil the minimum services in all those hotels where the number of employees in each department who have chosen to report for duty surpasses the stipulated percentage of minimum services,” stated the union.
In this regard, base trade unionists expressed that the implementation of minimum services demonstrates that they intended “maximum services” to mitigate, at all costs, the impact on customer service from the thousands of workers who are largely supporting the strike.
Furthermore, it was noted that the Canarian Trade Union Federation has already contested the Government of the Canary Islands Decree, which they claim has “overlooked” the fact that the hospitality sector is not an “essential service” for society—unlike transportation and healthcare—and that it ought to be restricted to a minimal number of individuals solely responsible for “ensuring the safety of the facilities and individuals.”
Meanwhile, the union emphasised that the overall participation in the strike could even surpass an average of 70% due to the commitment of workers who have opted to exercise their right to refuse work on Thursday.
However, they clarified that “obviously” the participation remains uneven across different areas and departments of the hotels, with a stronger overall presence in the restaurant and kitchen sectors, and less in reception, technical services, and housekeeping.
Base trade unionists assured that the highest levels of participation are still occurring in the south of Tenerife, with hotels reporting up to 80% participation on this second day of the strike; while the northern region and La Gomera are also seeing similar trends, “albeit surpassing 60% on average”; they also mentioned that they have no information from La Palma, as they lack union representation in the hospitality industry on that island.
“It is clear that participation is increasing this second day of the strike, as those who opted to work yesterday have had to intensify their workloads and extend their hours, with confirmation that in some cases they have reached twelve-hour shifts. Consequently, today they have decided to remain at home, unwilling to allow their right to work to be exploited by companies to the detriment of their colleagues,” concluded the union.
