Bilbao.- The ELA, LAB, CCOO and UGT unions have called a strike in the hotel industry in Bizkaia on June 29 and 30.
This call is made on the eve of the Tour de France leaving Bilbao on July 1.
The unions call on strike some 22,000 workers in the Biscayan hotel industry, bars, restaurants, hotels or the community sector.
They demand a “dignified” agreement for the collective.
The call for a strike in the hotel industry is made just at the moment when the protest at the Tour event as it passes through Bizkaia may have the “greatest affect”.
On the eve of the Tour
In the days prior to the start of the gala round from Bilbao, the hotel sector expects to register occupancies “of 100% in overnight stays”.
This was stated by the representative of LAB Iñigo Alonso at a rally in Bilbao, where he announced the strike together with the representative of ELA Pilar Miguez.
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the unions with representation in the sector want to “make it clear that this city of services and macro events is not possible in these working conditions.”
For this, they do not rule out calling strikes on the days of the Tour and continuing with the mobilizations if their demands are not met.
“Hitzarmenik gabe ez dago Tourrik!” (without agreement, there is no Tour), is the notice that the conveners have made.
This is a warning that is reminiscent of the one that Ertzaintza agents have been making in demand for wage and labor improvements.
In the mobilizations promoted by a platform outside the Ertzaintza unions, it is usually warned that “Without a regulatory agreement, there is no Tour.”
In the case of the hotel industry in Bizkaia, the unions demand at least wage increases from the CPI.
Criticism of the employers’ “inmobility”
As they have lamented, after the “successful” day of partial strikes carried out on the 1st in the sector, the Bizkaia Hotel and Catering Association “continues to remain immobilized”.
The employers “turn a deaf ear” to the demands of the templates, they have denounced.
They have contrasted this situation with that of the sector in Gipuzkoa, where an agreement has already been reached.
In addition, in Álava “the mere call for a press conference has been enough to reactivate the negotiation,” they explained.
In Bizkaia, they have continued without a salary increase since 2020, after having suffered Temporary Employment Regulation Files (ERTE) to face the covid crisis.
Inflation rises, but not wages
At that time, the workers mobilized “to save the businesses” of the hotel businessmen, they recalled.
As they have regretted, these ERTE “completely made flexible” the working conditions in the hospitality industry.
To this is added that in that time “the CPI has risen more than 12%” and prices in the sector have done so “by more than 15%”.
“They say that there is a lack of labor in the sector”, which is a symptom that “people have tired of working in certain conditions”, they have concluded. EFE