The celebration of May Day in the south of Gran Canaria comes with labor relations stabilized but with demands regarding quality. The union organizations that make up the Canarian Trade Union Federation (SOC and Base Unionists), with 1.200 delegates in the sector, have denounced that the sector's exploitation model "and the abuse of the fiscal instruments of the REF" has left the industry as a "colonial model of exploitation." The plants with the greatest weight in the south of Gran Canaria demand “decent wages, fair working conditions and sustainable development that benefits the entire society.”
The Federation of Mobility and Consumer Services of the UGT union in the Canary Islands assures that workers in the hospitality and tourism sector suffer a workload never seen before in the main tourist centers of the islands. The unions assure that the workforce has fallen too short to meet this surge in demand. The Federation of Workers Commission Services (CCOO) in the Canary Islands considers that the call of the regional president, Fernando Clavijo, for a “calm debate” on tourism is “a desperate attempt to silence the voices of those who suffer the devastating consequences” of a “unbridled” model.
Both CCOO and UGT denounce the high level of work overload. Many of the new contracts in the hospitality industry are part-time and the working day is usually longer than the contracted hours. They also warn of the increase in job insecurity. Businessmen remember that the Canary Islands lead in Spain in hiring increases in the hospitality industry. CCOO indicates that “the so-called protests against tourism do not arise from nowhere, but from years of socio-labor inequalities, uncontrolled environmental impact and job insecurity.” Remember that, “on repeated occasions,” it has urged the authorities and employers to listen to the demands of tourism workers, as this dialogue, the organization continues, “must be constructive and focused on finding real solutions, not on dismissing legitimate concerns with naive appeals to calm debate, with knowledge of the facts and without occurrences.”
