The Canary Islands Workers' Trade Union Front (FSOC) has filed a collective bargaining agreement with the courts against the agreement signed on April 12 by the CCOO (Workers' Union), UGT (Union of Workers' Unions), and the employers' association of the hospitality sector in the province of Las Palmas. The Canary Islands union believes the agreement violates the fundamental rights of workers in the sector by introducing hidden cuts and clauses that it describes as "illegal and discriminatory."
The first issue reported by FSOC is the deduction of salary bonuses during periods of temporary disability. "Attempting to deduct an agreed-upon salary supplement when a person is on sick leave is a direct attack on the right to health and a covert form of coercion to avoid sick leave," they denounce in a statement.
FSOC maintains that this measure directly contradicts current Social Security and Labor Law regulations, penalizes those who become ill or suffer accidents, and poses a risk to public health by encouraging sick people to attend their workplaces.
The second point of contention, according to the union, is the exclusion of staff working outside of hotel establishments—such as bars, cafes, or restaurants—from the scope of the agreed benefits. "There is no legal basis or objective justification for a differentiation that violates the principle of equal treatment and disrupts the unity of the sector," they point out.
FSOC demands the annulment of the clauses that, in its opinion, violate fundamental labor rights, and demands that the benefits of the agreement be fully applied to all hospitality sector employees, without distinction based on the type of establishment in which they work. The union also denounces the attitude of the unions that signed the agreement: "CCOO and UGT have acted at the behest of the employers, disregarding the interests of their employees and lacking transparency in the negotiations."
In the words of Miguel Pérez Rivero, general secretary of FSOC, "We will not allow cuts to be imposed under the guise of progress. This agreement was not signed in our name." The lawsuit opens a new front in the turbulent labor landscape of the tourism sector in the province of Las Palmas, where the boom in tourism contrasts with growing union complaints about precariousness, outsourcing, and the erosion of labor rights.
