Balearic Island unions and hotels join forces to save jobs in Spain holiday islands Ibiza and Mallorca

HOTEL associations and the CCOO and UGT trade unions have joined forces to urge the government to take measures to help the Balearic Island sector and protect jobs threatened by the coronavirus crisis.
The CEHAT Spanish Confederation of Hotels and Tourist Accommodation, the representatives of both unions, the ACH Balearic hotel chain and the FEHM Mallorca Hotel Business Federation have all signed the same document in which they call for a six-month extension of labour assistance, like specific unemployment protection for workers and exemption of business quota payments to Social Security.
The agreement includes a request for employees affected by ERTEs (a temporary employment regulation which enables companies to make suspensions within employment contracts or reduce their working hours due to force majeure), to receive the total amount of the extraordinary payment for the corresponding summer on the date stipulated in their collective agreements.
A further measure they have asked for is a 12-month period without capital repayments on financial operations which keep their activity going, with payments of interest only.
In the event of a gradual reopening of hotels the companies pledge to not fall back on temporary workers or contracts of a determined duration until the whole workforce affected by ERTEs due to the Covid-19 crisis have returned.
The agreement specifies that union representatives will participate in the gradual reincorporation of staff.
The hotel associations told the government they believed agreements of this kind are the right way forward to protect a sector which accounts for 14 per cent of national GDP.
They also pledged to ensure that once hotels do reopen, the companies will implement all the necessary preventative measures to prevent coronavirus infection in their establishments.
They maintained there will be personal protection equipment for each employee and the containment measures established by the regional and state authorities will be applied.