The news of a labor dispute in Maspalomas over the lifeguards has spread like wildfire among travel agencies in the United Kingdom, which have asked their suppliers of beds and accommodation units for explanations. Professional groups of lifeguards from Europe have expressed their solidarity with those from the south of Gran Canaria. The problem in the south of Gran Canaria is twofold: on the one hand, the image of insecurity of the destination and on the other hand, it contaminates the same union in the rest of Europe and North Africa.
In Las Palmas, lifeguards have not received the support of professional safety groups and beach safety promoters. The next step in the escalation is to take the mobilizations to the hotels where the lifeguards in these areas have somewhat different conditions than those on the beaches. "They tell us that we are harming tourism with these mobilizations, on the contrary we are supporting tourism," said a lifeguard from a hotel who added: "on the beaches things are bad but in hotels there are cases where they hire us by the hour and there are a total intrusion via temporary employment agencies".
The protest is because they demand an increase in troops to effectively cover the municipality's coast and a renewal of the necessary equipment to be able to provide their services. With only 16 lifeguards for all the beaches of the municipality, many of them several kilometers long as is the case of Playa del Inglés, the group has been reporting for months that with the arrival of summer and the increase in influx on the beaches of the municipality has become unsustainable. The group, through its spokesperson, Kevin Castellano, has stressed that the lack of lifeguards endangers both bathers and the staff themselves, who are overwhelmed by having to cover different points of the coast at the same time.
The collective's demands do not focus only on increasing the number of first responders, but also on demanding better working conditions and having adequate equipment to perform their functions effectively. Under the motto 'Lifeguards with water up to their necks' to once again denounce a situation that they classify as unsustainable.
