Thanks to the new agreement, workers in the hospitality sector in the province of Las Palmas will be entitled, among other things, to a twelve-hour break between working days. If not, companies will have to compensate the worker.
Thus, according to Comisiones Obreras, the new agreement has reflected the union's main objectives in the negotiation, such as improving the purchasing power of wages; permanent employment and the regulation of the fixed-term contract; Occupational Safety and Health and the development of the Law on Prevention of Occupational Risks in companies in the sector; the development and application of the Law on Equality between Women and Men and the Law on Reconciliation of Family and Personal Life with Working Life; and the regulation of subcontracting.
The negotiation began on April 14, with the majority support of workers in the sector in the province of Las Palmas, where CC.OO has the majority after more than twenty years at the Negotiating Table.
Stability for labor relations
On July 28, after more than three months of tough negotiations, CC.OO and the employers' associations of the sector signed the pre-agreement of the agreement for the years 2008 - 2011. The document had to be ratified by the Assemblies of Delegates of CC.OO in the three islands, being finally endorsed on July 30 in Lanzarote (91 votes in favor, 2 against and 1 abstention), on July 31 in Fuerteventura (61 votes in favor, 1 against and 1 abstention) and on August 1 unanimously by the 104 attendees in Gran Canaria.
The priority objective of CC.OO in the negotiation has been "the announced commitment to the Occupational Safety and Health of workers, the regulation of subcontracting and maintaining the purchasing power of wages, remaining firm in not giving in to any type of setback in the rights raised by the employers' association", indicate from the union.
The agreement has a validity of four years and "should transfer stability to labor relations between companies and hospitality workers" for this period. Regarding the salary review, the document contemplates, from 2008 to 2009 an increase of 3.5% with review on the real CPI, and between 2010 and 2011 an increase of 2.5% with review on the real CPI, unless it is lower than 3.5% (in that case that figure is guaranteed).
