At a time when job insecurity has become a shadow hanging over the lives of workers, the situation of the Gran Canaria lifeguards, employed by the temporary employment agency Fórum Activa, is a new chapter in this drama. The conflict, which erupted in the heart of Gran Canaria's tourist-friendly south, involves around twenty lifeguards who, according to their testimony, have been victims of a legal loophole following the bankruptcy of the company that subcontracted them.
The drama began in June, when Lookup filed for bankruptcy and the lifeguard service at Lopesan hotels was transferred to Fórum Activa Canarias. Initially, the workers assumed the transfer would be a given, meaning the new company would retain their jobs and working conditions. This wasn't the case. They found themselves in a kind of employment limbo, without pay or work.
In an interview with Atlántico Hoy, Oliver López, one of those affected, denounced the difficulty the rescuers have faced in collecting unemployment benefits, having lost their SEMAC (Spanish Social Security Administration) forms, which are essential for registering with the SEPE (Spanish Employment Service). After months of uncertainty, they have been promised that they will begin receiving unemployment benefits in September.
According to López, the company Fórum Activa Canarias has refused to discuss the issue of subrogation, offering the workers new contracts as temporary contracts instead of permanent ones. "It's a scam," declares the lifeguard, who denounces the precariousness of the situation. The dispute has reached the courts. Oliver López has a hearing against the two companies on June 29, 2026. At that time, it will be decided whether they will be liquidated or incorporated into the workforce. For the affected worker, however, the future is clear: "In my case, I want to study. I'll start with that. It's better to go another way because the lifeguarding situation here is quite complicated, it's very precarious."
