The workers of the Tourist Centers have resumed negotiations of the collective agreement with the management of the company that, for the moment, are developing "without confrontations and in a good atmosphere." This was stated this Wednesday on Radio Lanzarote-Onda Cero by Antonio Bonilla, member of the Works Council, who has asked the CEO, José Juan Lorenzo, to comply with "his commitment" and deliver "shortly" the accounts of the Tourist Centers, from 2006 to 2012, "which have not been audited since then."
This Tuesday they had the second of the meetings to negotiate this collective agreement, after the company extended the deadline to prevent workers from going on strike in the middle of August. Employees and management will meet every Tuesday until November 5, the day the negotiation schedule ends.
The intention of the workers, according to Bonilla, is to negotiate this agreement as soon as possible, "because this causes fewer conflicts." However, he recalled that employees want the company's accounts and that these be audited, at least, by the Cabildo's comptroller. "We need the accounts to know where adjustments should be made. We see that the company insists on salary reduction and the variable remuneration system, but continues to make expenses that are not in line with times of crisis," Bonilla said.
Among these "superfluous" expenses that could be avoided, according to this member of the Works Council, is "the preparation of new menus" or the purchase of "cauldrons, refrigerators, ovens, plates or the Los Dolores parties." "There are more ways to reduce or eliminate expenses. It seems that income increases in the Centers but hard they make, hard they spend and that does not seem to us to be negotiating. Now, in Jameos del Agua, for example, more food is thrown away than ever with the tapas," he warned.
Job board
In addition, Bonilla has demanded that the company "comply with the issue of the job board." "We agreed on a replacement pool and it is not fulfilled. When workers are missing, they hire temporary employment agencies," he denounced. In this sense, he pointed out that a substitute guide in the Cueva de los Verdes charges 20 euros per hour, which is "very expensive" and that, in addition, most of it ends up being taken by "a company of temporary work" and not the employee.
Bonilla believes that even if a temporary employment agency is hired, "a public tender" should be held previously, since the Tourist Centers are a public company. "It seems disproportionate to us. With the job board, the people of the island would have the possibility of working. From that pool, personnel could be taken out when needed, but there are things that the company does not want to do," he lamented.