The Social Court of Arrecife has upheld the lawsuit filed by Sindicalistas de Canarias – currently integrated into the Frente Sindical Obrero de Canarias (FSOC) against the Hotel THB Flora, ordering the company to pay 7,500 euros in compensation for violation of fundamental rights.
The ruling recognizes that the company obstructed union activity by denying the legally constituted Union Section the right to have a union notice board, a basic instrument for informing the staff.
The events date back to January 2024, when SSCC requested a notice board from the defendant company to disseminate union information. Following this, the hotel informed them that, as they did not consider them a union section, they could not be provided with a notice board.
In February of the same year, it was finally agreed in a meeting to put up a notice board divided into three parts for UGT, SSCC, and the Works Council. During that month, the Works Council informed its members belonging to SSCC that the notice board was once again being used for their information and could not be divided for any union.
After that, in response to a letter from SSCC, the company communicated that the notice board is for the exclusive use of the Works Council.
In addition, it is stated that "the decision of the Works Council not to allow the shared use of the notice board was motivated by an alleged misuse of it by placing confusing information by the spokesperson of the SSCC union section".
Later, in November of the same year, the defendant company was required to provide a notice board to the union sections existing in the workplace within a period of one month, something that the hotel provided that same month.
Previously, the Labor Inspectorate had already sanctioned the company for these events, "now reinforcing the legitimacy of our claims with the judicial ruling," FSOC points out.
From FSOC, they denounce that "business behaviors that threaten union freedom and generate a hostile climate towards workers still persist. This resolution represents a firm step in the defense of the right to free unionization and organization of workers around a Union Section, sanctioning anti-union conduct".