The Canary Islands and mainland unions leading the call for a general strike in the Canary Islands tourism sector for Holy Thursday and Good Friday will offer the Canary Islands government's labor administration only breakfast service. No lifeguard services or pool bar services as they initially wanted to offer.
"Providing food is essential; swimming in pools is not a priority," he told Maspalomas24H, adding that they will be vigilant "to ensure compliance with the basic rules of coexistence, but without intervening."
One of the most controversial points in the strike called in the Canary Islands tourism sector for this Easter is the definition of minimum services, which remains unresolved to date. Unlike other strategic sectors such as public transport or healthcare, where minimum services are clearly regulated based on their impact on citizens, in the tourism sector—which is largely made up of private companies—the definition of these services is more diffuse.
In the case of this strike, which could be the first of its magnitude in 47 years, the unions insist that generalized minimum services that would nullify the right to strike should not be established, especially in sectors such as hospitality, catering, and recreational activities, where these services, although important, are not considered essential by law.
However, employers' associations are pushing to ensure a certain minimum operational capacity, appealing to the archipelago's tourist image and its commitment to thousands of visitors during one of the busiest seasons of the year.
This tension is not new: during the 2019 airport ground staff strike, the Ministry of Public Works set minimum service rates at very high percentages, drawing harsh criticism from unions who considered them "abusive." During the hotel cleaning strike in the Balearic Islands, attempts were also made to limit the impact through minimum agreements, although the private nature of the companies made their uniform application difficult.
In the Canary Islands, the difficulty is even greater as the sector is deeply fragmented, with hotels, chains, small tour companies, agencies, and restaurants operating under different labor agreements and structures. Furthermore, many of these companies lack experience managing large-scale labor disputes.
To date, there is no firm proposal on minimum services, which is causing concern among both businesses and workers, who fear possible retaliation or pressure to report to work during the strike. The next few hours will be crucial to determine whether a framework is agreed upon that would make the right to strike compatible with basic operations in tourism services, without compromising the essence of the protest.
