Talks have broken down. The UGT union has walked out and on Monday will begin the process of calling a strike in the hospitality sector. Up to 180,000 workers in the Balearics will be called to a series of stoppages that will begin on Thursday 10 July and continue throughout the month for a total of six days. Thursday 10 July will be followed by further stoppages on 18, 19, 25, 26 and 31 July.
After a marathon day of talks in which there was hope of reaching a final agreement - or, failing that, of achieving a significant enough rapprochement to avert the possibility of a strike - the negotiating table between employers and unions finally collapsed. Disagreements over the percentage of wage increases for the next three years were the main source of friction, but not the only one. The positions remain far apart on key issues such as sick pay (hoteliers want to counteract absenteeism rates by restructuring these allowances, something that has been marked as a red line by the UGT and CCOO unions).
As far as wage negotiations are concerned, the wage demand had been reduced from 17% to 16% (they started by asking for 19%), while the employers had not moved from the 11% they put on the table (they started with 8.5%) at the negotiating subcommittee on Monday. Negotiations were halted at midday, with a break agreed for lunch before returning to the table. The intention was to conclude the negotiations on Thursday or at least leave them at an advanced stage, with only a final meeting remaining. The executive vice-president of the Mallorca Hoteliers Federation, María José Aguiló, said: ‘We are still at a point where negotiations are ongoing.’
Around 6.30pm UGT representatives decided to walk out of the meeting, making their frustration clear - they did not even sign the minutes of the session - in response to what they saw as a deliberate blockade of the negotiations with unacceptable offers from the employers’ organisations (hotel federations, restaurant association and nightlife business group). José García Relucio, secretary of the Federation of Services, Mobility and Consumption, said: ‘We will not accept a single step backwards in acquired rights. We have come here to negotiate to improve the conditions of hospitality workers, not to make them worse.’
The unions had welcomed the employers’ proposal to guarantee nine months of employment and extend contracts in line with the lengthening of the season, another of the unions’ key demands. However, this was not enough. Héctor Gómez, representative of CCOO, pointed out that the ‘unacceptable’ proposals on practically all other key points had made an agreement unfeasible.
‘We have said from the outset that we would not accept these conditions, that we would not sign any of this.’ The CCOO spokesperson confirmed that his union fully supports the strike call and that on Friday will deliver the ballot to the TAMIB (Balearic Arbitration and Mediation Court) to request it.
The president of the Mallorca Hoteliers Federation, Javier Vich, stated that the call for a strike constituted a ‘failure’ on the part of the negotiating parties. He also denounced the position of the unions, who ‘are focusing on wage increases and are not taking into account all the points raised by the employers, which are not being sufficiently valued.’
The federation explained that its willingness not to offer any increase above 11% was ‘firm’, unless there were ‘substantial concessions on issues of utmost interest to companies: flexibility, internal organisation and absenteeism’. The hoteliers also wanted to highlight their willingness to negotiate job guarantees and extend them to nine months. ‘This issue, which is a long-standing union demand, would be resolved.’ However, the union’s demand for a wage increase of no less than 16% (CCOO has said it would never sign an agreement for less than a 15% increase) has been described as “insufficient” by the federation, as it expected ‘a more realistic proposal’ from the unions.
Disagreements over absenteeism and consecutive weekly rest days have finally torpedoed the talks. ‘We regret and condemn the behaviour of the UGT, which from the outset has put a strike threat on the table that does not favour a good negotiating climate,’ said Aguiló.
‘We have achieved some agreement on minor issues,’ she said, explaining that, nevertheless, the union had not listened to reason and had chosen to walk away from the table, taking the threat of strike action to its ultimate conclusion. The hoteliers' vice-president added that there could be a one-year extension of the current agreement if necessary. Finally, the federation stated that it would continue to make every effort to reach a ‘fair agreement’ and prevent the strike from going ahead.