The Canary Labor Court has decided this Monday to end its attempt to mediate in the labor conflict of the Tourist Centers, without reaching an agreement to end the strike. The members of the Court met with the management and the workers' representatives last Thursday and have brought both parties together again this Monday, during a marathon meeting that has lasted more than 12 hours. However, the meeting has ended again without an agreement and the Court has decided to withdraw.
After the meeting, the Tourism Councilor of the Cabildo of Lanzarote, Echedey Eugenio, insisted on the need to request "a new mediation to obtain a binding award for the parties", in "one more attempt to explore all the formulas at our disposal to put an end to this conflict", which has already lasted two weeks.
According to the councilor, after meeting with both parties jointly and separately, the Labor Court has raised a new proposal this Monday, but the Strike Committee of the Centers "has rejected it". In addition, the first proposal raised by the Court on Thursday has not prospered either. That proposal was not accepted by the workers, but it was not approved by the Board of Directors of the CACT held last Saturday either. And it is that although the management was in favor, the same did not happen with the rest of the groups represented in the Cabildo, including the PSOE, which governs together with CC in the Corporation.
Therefore, it was finally left on the table without being put to a vote. And there was no progress either on another proposal raised by the Councilor of Ciudadanos, Benjamín Perdomo, which both the Strike Committee and other parties represented at the meeting were willing to accept. In fact, the socialist councilor Marcos Bergaz accused the management this Monday of not having "taken advantage" of that opportunity for agreement, questioning also its "bad manners", for having abandoned that meeting "abruptly and surprisingly".
That proposal addressed what remains the main point of disagreement, regarding the personal supplement received by the workers, since they argue that the calculation of the amount was done incorrectly. Although the Committee demands that the difference be paid to them both in future payrolls and retroactively -since the current collective agreement was approved in 2014-, what was proposed was to incorporate that difference only in future payments, and wait for the pending judicial rulings to decide on what corresponds to previous years. However, the councilor finally adjourned the session without reaching an agreement.
The ten points proposed unsuccessfully by the Court
Regarding the last proposal raised unsuccessfully this Monday by the Canary Labor Court, which is an body created by the Government of the Canary Islands for the extrajudicial resolution of labor conflicts, it included 10 points, according to what has been made public by the management of the Centers:
1.- Include the sections negotiated by the parties with respect to the employment contracts with the temporary employment agencies in accordance with the provisions of the collective agreement and with a follow-up by the parties every three months.
2.- Include what is stipulated in the collective agreement with respect to direct hiring through the replacement lists.
3.- Reaffirmation in accordance with the provisions of the collective agreement of the public management of the Centers and the reaffirmation that the workers are public employees.
4.- The entity ratifies that the workers of EPEL-CACT are public employees of the local business public entity and, consequently, will respect and recognize all the rights that correspond to them (including those related to the reconciliation of work and family life).
5.- The maintenance of monthly periodic meetings between the management and the works council, in principle, on the second Tuesday of each month, and that the workers are aware of the decisions and motivations of the Entity.
6.- The company undertakes to answer the writings presented by the Committee in a time not exceeding 20 days.
7.- The parties agree that in relation to the availability, transport and laundry allowances (article 11.3 of the collective agreement), they will be paid to the workers in accordance with the provisions of the salary tables of the company collective agreement, that is, in 12 monthly payments, and for the amounts that appear in said table, regardless of whether they are enjoying vacations. All this in accordance with the judgment of the Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands dated November 30, 2016.
The foregoing will be done without deducting said amount from the personal supplement, and it will continue to be received during the entire term of the agreement.
The company accepts that said amounts and for such concepts, as agreed in this seventh point, corresponding to the years 2015 (383.24 euros), 2016 (387.07 euros) and 2017 (175.95 euros) will be paid to each and every one of the workers already registered in the company at the signing of the collective agreement, in the ordinary payroll of the month of September 2017.
8.- The company cancels the discount of 35.19 euros per month that has been deducted from the workers since the month of April 2017, from the personal supplement, regularizing the payroll from the month of September 2017.
9.- The parties agree that the company will continue paying as until now, without prejudice to the provisions of point eight, the personal supplement to each of the workers in accordance with the provisions of the judgment of the Social Court No. 3 of Lanzarote, dated 03/31/2016, judgment of the Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands dated 11/30/2016, collective agreement and ad person guarantee letter that the company delivered to each worker.
The workers agree to suspend the request made that they be paid for the difference between what they have to receive and what they have been receiving from the personal supplement and corresponding to the 8 months of 2014, year 2015, year 2016 and until September 2017, until the court resolves in relation to the individual lawsuits filed since 2015 by the workers.
10.- If the aforementioned proposal is accepted, the workers, after a meeting with the workers, would cancel the strike today.
