The workers of Princesa Yaiza have decided to call off the rally that they were going to hold this Thursday at the doors of the hotel, although for the moment they will maintain the second protest that they had planned, until they see if the company complies this time with what was promised.
The workers' assembly agreed to call these two protests and even initiate "the process of pre-strike notice" on August 24, due to the continuous delays in the payment of wages, which have been dragging on "for years". At that time, from Comisiones Obreras they pointed out that the staff no longer believed the promises of the company, which had even breached an agreement signed before the Canarian Labor Court.
However, a new "commitment" from the property has now led them to suspend the first of the two planned rallies. This was decided this Tuesday in a new meeting of the workers' assembly, in which there were votes against but "the majority", in a secret vote, opted to suspend the protest this Thursday.
"The property had never signed a commitment directly"
"The property had never signed a commitment directly," they told La Voz from the Works Council, to explain the change of decision. Thus, although one of their complaints was based on the fact that the hotel had even breached the agreement signed before the Labor Court, now they specify that it was signed by "the hotel management", and not directly by the owners.
For that reason, they have decided to wait until next month to see if this time the agreement is fulfilled and their right to collect their salaries within the legal term established, between the 1st and the 5th of each month. Otherwise, they indicate that they will continue with the other rally, which is scheduled for September 11, and also with other pressure measures, including the strike with which they had already threatened.
As Comisiones Obreras told La Voz last week, this is not the first time that the company has managed to stop a protest called by the workers. In fact, they stated that this situation has been dragging on for years and that when they threaten with a strike or a rally "they pay well for two months in a row, but then they come back again".
Other irregularities and breaches
"It is regrettable that in a five-star luxury hotel, where the occupancy is practically 100 percent, and with the benefits that this establishment has, the workers suffer continuous delays in the payment of their salaries", denounced then the general secretary of CCOO Lanzarote, Vanesa Frahija.
In addition, she stressed that in recent years they have also had to denounce other "irregularities" in this hotel, such as "the workload", the assignment of workers to functions that did not correspond to them, such as taking care of the pool and at the same time acting as a waiter, or breaches in the minimum percentage of fixed indefinite hiring that there must be.
"We have always fought against job insecurity, regardless of the employer. Mr. Juan Francisco Rosa may be a very important owner on the island of Lanzarote, but Comisiones Obreras has never trembled the pulse to be at the forefront of any employer who fails to comply with his workers," Frahija had warned. In addition, she pointed out that, apart from the announced pressure measures, they had also contacted the Labor Inspectorate "so that it enforces all the irregularities that we are seeing day by day".
