Hospitality workers are plotting to blockade Majorca’s airport in a move that could wreak havoc on thousands of British holidaymakers. Over 180,000 employees across the Balearic Islands will strike on multiple days in July, with the demonstrations including a blockade on all access to Palma Airport. The protests will erupt in the island group, off the coast of eastern Spain, on July 10, with travellers prevented from entering the departure and arrival areas on the first day of the action.
Staff will then stage walkouts from their hospitality roles across the archipelago on July 18, 19, 25 and 31, the UGT union confirmed on Monday. The demonstrations, carried out in coordination with the Spanish trade union CCOO, are expected to impact tourist accommodation, restaurants, bars and nightclubs across Majorca, Menorca, Ibiza and Formentera.
The protests have been primarily motivated by calls for pay increases in the archipelago’s hospitality sector, which is under ever-increasing strain as the number of international visitors continues to rise year-on-year.
Balearic employers and trade unions have fallen out over the percentage of wage increases over the next three years, the Majorca Daily Bulletin reports, with the latter wanting a 16% increase but only being offered 11%.
Hospitality workers in the Balearics are paid less than their counterparts elsewhere in Spain, according to the CCOO, with the pay offer rejected on the grounds of a “great” gulf between the union demands and the employers’ proposal.
Staff have also reportedly called for more clarity on expected employee workloads and reducing the working week to 35 hours, while bosses push for extra measures to tackle absenteeism.
José García Relucio, UGT general secretary of the federation of services, mobility and consumption, said: “We will not accept a single step backwards in acquired rights.
“We have come here to negotiate to improve the conditions of hospitality workers, not to make them worse.”
Meanwhile, Javier Vich, president of the hotel business federation of Majorca, said the failure of both parties to reach an agreement before the matter escalated to strike action amounted to a “failure”.
