The second day of the strike has begun with work, but on the part of the management, which has had to cut the chains and padlocks that the workers had placed at the entrance of the Tourist Centers to prevent access. In order to prevent the incidents that occurred this Tuesday from happening again, reinforcement from the State security forces has been requested to guarantee "the passage of visitors." The manager hopes that throughout the morning of this Wednesday all the facilities will be open where free access will be allowed, although with a lack of services. "In the Mountains of Fire we are only opening so that the route can be done, without getting off the buses," informs the manager of the CACT´s", who does not consider that a strike is being carried out with rights, but an "imposition."
The follow-up has been massive and without minimum services because the request to the General Directorate of Labor was rejected. Although there was police and Civil Guard presence at the entrance of the centers. A presence that on the first day could not dissuade the conflicts, nor guaranteed free entry to the facilities, as the councilor, Pedro San Ginés, had announced. For this reason, an increase in personnel and greater security has been requested. One of the places of greatest tension was in Timanfaya Park. The day ended with two complaints filed by the management of the EPEL, which assures that "the staff forcibly prevented the entry of workers who did not follow the strike and coerced them."
From early in the morning, the workers were stationed at the entrance of the Tourist Centers during the first day of the strike with union flags and protest banners. According to the staff, to "inform and advise" visitors about the strike. According to the management of the EPEL, to "impose and prevent" the entry of tourists and workers, who, although "a minority", did not join the strike. "They used their cars, chains, padlocks and their physical presence to prevent passage", narrates the manager of the Tourist Centers, José Juan Lorenzo, about a tense call. The truth is that this Tuesday it was impossible to open the CACT´s, as the management had planned, except in "intermittent moments".
Héctor Noda assures that in one of the cases reported, one of the workers who had been hired, exceptionally, for Montañas de Fuego was allowed to pass. "In front of the Civil Guard lieutenant, he was told that he could go up to the center, but the manager has used it saying that entry had been denied," says the union representative to discredit the complaint filed.
Some buses arrived at the Centers on their route through the island. José Juan Lorenzo explains that these routes cannot be avoided and that there was also the case that two cruise ships had arrived on the island with more than 2,500 visitors. To avoid greater evils, they were coordinated with the tour operators waiting for access to be allowed, "which never came."
Another of the most tense moments of the day occurred in the Cactus Garden with the arrival of a bus. The mediation of the tour guide managed to get the workers to consent to the access of visitors, but when they got off, "they were heckled, insulted and the workers began to make a fuss. Some threw themselves on the floor as the visitors passed by. And only half entered because the other half felt intimidated", says the manager of the Centers.
On the second day, they hope that everything will proceed with greater "normality", with the presence of the Civil Guard, which during the morning has allowed visitors to access the centers, but only those who arrived by bus, which has motivated the complaints of some tourists who have approached in a particular way. "I went to Tourism and they didn't tell me there was a strike. Yesterday - for Tuesday - I came and they didn't let me in and today, since I'm not coming with a group of 50 people, I can't enter either. We always pay the same", claimed an affected tourist, who has traveled to Lanzarote, from Madrid, with the sole objective of visiting the Mountains of Fire.
