Almeria bars and restaurants backs strike action to demand sector rescue plan

BARS, restaurants, hotels and hostels in Almeria have backed strike action to demand a rescue plan for the hospitality sector.
Staff at establishments in Almeria city and elsewhere in the province downed tools for 15 minutes on Wednesday morning in an act of protest organised by the ASHAL Almeria Provincial Association of Hospitality Companies.
The initiative was to support the national sector association action in Madrid under the slogan #SalvemosLaHostelería (Save hospitality).
“We are all now aware that we are at the limit and we need measures which help companies to refloat their businesses and also a strategic plan to drive activity again”, declared ASHAL president Diego Garcia.
“We are not the guilty ones for the spread of Covid-19, although they try to criminalise us, but we are the most affected”, Garcia insisted.
He claimed that “without a clear strategy which boosts the sector, the loss of companies and employment will be inescapable.”
Among the measures ASHAL is calling for are an extension of the ERTE work furloughs while the pandemic lasts, fiscal bonuses for rentals and resources for sunk costs for companies which have suffered a major loss of income.
The association is also calling for a strategic plan for the sector to deal with the new reality.