The general secretary of Comisiones Obreras in Lanzarote, Vanesa Frahija, revealed that the hotel sector is facing a shortage of workers. For this reason, she fears that the lack of personnel will translate into an overload on employees and urges employers to seek "creative solutions" to this problem.
"There are certain tense areas, especially in the south, where it is almost impossible not to find an establishment with vacancies. It is not a problem that only concerns the company, because while the company cannot solve it, it will have an impact on the workload for the rest of the active workers," Frahija assured before the microphones of Radio Lanzarote - Onda Cero.
"It is true that there is no housing, but we have to be creative, as the Employers' Association is interested in other cases," she added. For the general secretary of CCOO, an important point is the measures that aim to facilitate the entry of hospitality workers into the labor market. For this reason, she proposes to recover initiatives such as putting in place transportation paid for by the company in different shifts, morning and afternoon. According to Frahija, this measure is already being taken by some companies, which had suspended it.
"CCOO is the first union in Lanzarote, at the Canary Islands level but also at the state level. We are the majority union and with a wide difference from the second," defended Frahija. The union she represents has proposed different alternatives to the employers, aimed at getting more workers, including the reduction of split shifts.
For Vanesa Frahija it is unacceptable that workers have to travel from Arrecife to Playa Blanca up to twice a day. She also assured that there are some hotels that have already opted to reduce split shifts.
"We also ask for responsibility from the employers so that workers can get to their jobs. They will have to find solutions yes or yes, you cannot have a wonderful summer campaign for them with colleagues with an overload of work that cannot be understood," she denounced during her intervention. "And then we are surprised that there are no workers"
H&M Concentrations
At the same time, the secretary of CCOO in Lanzarote explained the strike being carried out by the workers of the H&M store. As she recalled, this company made a "brutal" ERE in 2021 at the state level that did not affect any employee in Lanzarote. However, the workers of this textile store then supported that strike and also the current one.
In the case of the island, H&M has gone from 30 people to 19 employees. "For us there is no justification whatsoever, since January there has been a state dialogue table, where too many issues are being addressed." Among them, losses of workers' rights that have not been recovered or the overload of work. "Sick leave, vacations or leaves of absence are not replaced. Sales are being expanded," Vanesa Frahija related.
"The situation in which the colleagues find themselves is unbearable," she assured. In particular, she revealed that there are seven or eight employees on medical leave due to pregnancy.
"The economy is not bad, it is reflected in our island, it is not understood that this international company does not want to sit down and talk with the workers," she concluded.