To rectify is wise. Yes, it is, but only if that rectification does not fall short or worsen the previous statement. We cannot remain silent after the president of the Hotel and Extra-Hotel Association of the province of Tenerife (Ashotel), Jorge Marichal, assures that "in Spain, whoever allows themselves to be exploited does so because they want to" (sic) and intends to fix it by saying that his association is not aware of any cases of employers taking advantage of their workers.
Marichal does not live on another planet. What's more, he lives in the Canary Islands. Just because he doesn't like what he hears about the reality of the sector in the archipelago doesn't make that reality not exist, it doesn't make it disappear. You cannot deny the evidence, but it is serious and irresponsible that the representative of the employers – who, on the other hand, does not hide how uncomfortable it is for him to talk about the need to improve the conditions in which hotel and apartment staff work – denies circumstances that only employers are capable of questioning.
Questioning the word of tourism workers is a lack of respect for the labor collective that moves the Canary Islands forward every day with a great deal of effort, an effort that the president of the employers does not know or value. With his words, he despises the hard work that thousands of people do on the islands, which is undoubtedly the worst face of record figures that the business community boasts about while these workers break their backs but continue, however, to offer their best face to the client.
Marichal defends that there is a "powerful labor agreement" which, as he knows very well, is easily bypassed with formulas such as low-cost subcontracting, fraudulent contracts and so many other back doors opened by the labor reform imposed by the PP.
The current situation in the Canary Islands is that profits are increasing but there are fewer jobs than in 2008, so there is also more workload and salaries that do not do justice to the work that is done. No matter how much the employers insist on saying that it is only a scandalous minority, they will not be able to hide that, with all certainty, the benefits of the recovery we are experiencing are not reaching the workers.
Is Mr. Marichal suggesting that the more than 20,000 Canary Island 'kellys' are lying when they denounce the inadmissible workload they suffer, the health problems resulting from it, the brutal conditions in which they carry out their work? Yes, he must be suggesting it when he himself has not been shy about publicly questioning the seriousness of the injuries suffered by these women.
In the first plenary session of this new period of sessions, I will ask President Clavijo what his Government thinks of these statements. It would not be surprising if CC approves Marichal's painful rectification. Let us remember that we are facing a Government that has never wanted to side with those who give their all every day in our hotels and apartments, a Government that boasts of precarious contracts, using this argument as an incentive for investment.
The most regrettable thing is not that Clavijo and his minority Government cannot do something to dignify the conditions in which these people work. What is really tremendous is that they don't want to, and I refer to the facts: a progressive Government with a PSOE president has achieved a great pact for the quality of employment in tourism in the Balearic Islands, sponsoring two collective agreements between employers and unions that translate into salary increases of up to 280 euros in the period 2017-2020.
It's called political will, Mr. Clavijo, but be careful, because it may annoy the hotel employers.
María Dolores Corujo, Spokesperson for the Canarian Socialist Parliamentary Group @loli_mcorujo
