The PSOE of Lanzarote has denounced this Monday that the Government of the Canary Islands, led by Coalición Canaria and the Partido Popular, "has once again turned its back on the workers of the archipelago", after rejecting in Parliament a socialist initiative to promote the improvement of salaries in the tourism sector and other strategic sectors.
The general secretary of the PSOE of Lanzarote and deputy in Congress, María Dolores Corujo, made these statements after holding a meeting with representatives of the Federation of Services, Mobility and Consumption, together with the spokesperson of the Socialist Group in the Cabildo, Ariagona González, and the island secretary of Employment, José Antonio González.
Poor workers in a tourist paradise
“While the Canary Islands are experiencing record numbers in tourist arrivals, spending per visitor and business profits, we have workers who cannot pay the rent or make ends meet. This is the great paradox of the model that CC and PP refuse to revise: poor workers in a tourist paradise”, Corujo lamented.
The general secretary and deputy has been especially critical of the fact that the groups that make up the Canarian Government —Coalición Canaria, Partido Popular and AHI— have voted against a Non-Law Proposal presented by the PSOE to promote salary increases and improve working conditions in the productive sectors: “For whose benefit do they govern? Certainly not for the benefit of the social majority. They have abandoned any commitment to social justice and have broken all bridges with the unions. They have not sat down even once with them so far this legislature”.
“It is unacceptable that, in a situation marked by job insecurity, inaccessible housing and loss of purchasing power, the Government of the Canary Islands has not had a single meeting with the unions. Zero meetings. Zero willingness to dialogue. Zero solutions”, Corujo stressed.
We will be on the side of those who defend the people
The socialist leader has insisted that “we cannot talk about sustainability when a decent life is not guaranteed for those who sustain the economic engine of this land with their efforts” and has recalled that the PSOE defends a tourism model that "not only measures success by business profits, but also by the well-being of the local population". “A model that sets limits, that distributes wealth, that protects the territory and that guarantees decent salaries and jobs. That is what we defend”.
For her part, the socialist spokesperson in the Cabildo, Ariagona González, has denounced that “President Oswaldo Betancort follows the same line: no dialogue with the workers, no roadmap to improve employment, no commitment to a fair distribution of wealth. Only propaganda, unnecessary trips and a policy that ignores the reality of the people”.
José Antonio González, island secretary of Employment, has warned that “without decent salaries there is no social justice or sustainable future. We cannot talk about progress when the benefits of tourism do not translate into better conditions for those who make it possible”.
