The tourism union table in the Canary Islands, made up of six unions, has asked the Government of the Canary Islands this Tuesday to mediate in negotiations with employers in the sector in their demand for minimum salary increases of 3.5%, which would benefit more than 150,000 Canary Island workers.
In a press conference at the UGT union headquarters in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, the six organizations have indicated that they set the initial bar at 5% salary increase, but that the "floor" is 3.5 or 4%, and have appealed to employers to be "empathetic" and recognize the "extra effort" made by the staff in recent years, diminished by the lack of hiring.
The mediation of the Government of the Canary Islands is the next step that the UGT, Intersindical Canaria, USO, FSOC, Sindicalistas de Base and Federación Sindical Canaria unions have wanted to take, who if they see that there is a positive response from the employers, will "continue negotiating."
But if not, they have not ruled out that "there will be mobilizations in the coming weeks, including a possible sector strike for Easter", the latter action already announced by Comisiones Obreras, which has distanced itself from the rest of the organizations.
Precisely, regarding the absence of CCOO at this union table, the representative of Intersindical Canaria, Ignacio Rodríguez, has invited his colleagues to "join the union table again, since the balance of power of the unions in the Canary Islands causes each of them to be "essential."
"This situation makes no sense, I believe that if there have been misunderstandings and confrontation that have motivated this decision by Comisiones Obreras, it must be overcome, and we make a fraternal call to them to make that effort, which we would also make from the union table in whatever is in our hands to consolidate that unity," he said.
And it is that, precisely, this unity of action has been highlighted by all the unions present at this table, especially if it manages to consolidate over time.
A unity that, as highlighted by the general secretary of FSOC, Miguel Pérez, has a clear objective: "improve the working conditions of tourism workers", especially after companies have obtained great benefits from the good tourist moment that the archipelago is going through, with "record figures" and that this has not been reflected in the employees.
Open the agreements
The representative of UGT at the table, Francisco González, has advocated opening the agreements before they expire -in the case of Las Palmas on December 31 of the current year, and in the case of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, in mid-2026-, since it has been seen that the increases agreed then, in 2022 -of 10.5% in four years-, have generated an impoverishment of tourism personnel.
Especially considering that these agreements were agreed at a time marked by the uncertainty of the war in Ukraine and how the market would react after the covid-19 restrictions.
González has shown some optimism that employers will sit down to negotiate and apply these salary increases, which must be given "without absorption or compensation."
Questioned about the statements of Excelcan, made up of the main companies in the sector in the Canary Islands, that the salary increase they are asking for may be affected by the reduction of the working day proposed by the Spanish Government, the unions have criticized that it is "one more excuse to kick the ball out."
Ignacio Rodríguez has delved into that as a speech "it is fine", but he has reminded Excelcan that the demand for the reduction of the working day is "very old" compared to the requests to renew salaries.
The general secretary of Sindicalistas de Base, Javier Fernández, for his part, has insisted that there is "an important part that is the responsibility of the authorities" regarding the reduction of the working day, but has asked employers for empathy with what is happening in the sector.