The employers and unions of the Balearic Islands have signed this Wednesday the extension of the hotel industry agreement that includes a wage increase of 8.5% in two years for more than 160,000 workers in the archipelago. It is the main agreement in the Balearic Islands due to its labor importance, and the rise is added to the 17% that was agreed for the last five years. Consequently, workers in this sector have seen their salaries grow by 25.5% in seven years.
The agreement also incorporates the obligation, on the part of tourist establishments, to measure the workloads of housekeepers, in accordance with the methodology established by the Balearic Government. Measures are also adopted to reconcile personal, family and work life in accordance with current European regulations, which implies, for example, that paid leave can be taken on working days.
The Balearic Government, also present at the signing, undertakes in a second document to promote training among workers, with an investment of 40 million euros in professional training, in addition to 16 million euros in a shock plan to promote the accreditation of professional skills, new aid for workers in the sector who want to train and the consolidation of dual training.
The Balearic Government has actively participated in the signing of this agreement that commits all parties, including the nightlife association, which initially refused to approve this increase. To overcome this reluctance, a specific catering work group will be created during the two years of the agreement, with the catering employers' association and the sectoral unions, focused on analyzing the specific needs of this sector.
"Now we are not only talking about having a job, but about having quality work," said the Balearic president, Francina Armengol, who presided over the signing of the agreement. The president has vindicated "social dialogue and the confluence of consensus" to advance strongly in the improvement of working conditions. She has considered that it is a "historic" agreement because, for the first time, an agreement for a sector that is the "economic engine" of the Islands is approved unanimously.
The agreement will enter into force on April 1 and represents a notable increase in wages for a key sector in a service economy focused on tourism, such as the Balearic Islands. The improvements in the conditions of hospitality workers on the islands have been so significant in recent years that many employees have left other jobs to move into the hospitality industry.
This circumstance has created serious problems in sectors such as nursing homes. Last year there were difficulties in finding personnel for these jobs, which has made it necessary to promote a specific agreement for this sector that has just been signed.
The signing of the agreement has not been easy and, at one point, the CCOO refused to sign, regretting the interference of the Balearic Government and denounced the current agreement, feeling excluded from the negotiation. The union warned of a start to the mobilization season if a regulation of workloads was not incorporated into the wage agreement, something that has finally been included.
The Minister of Economic Model, Iago Negueruela, has expressed his gratitude to the union and business organizations for all the previous work "that has allowed us to get here" and for "forming an agreement in which all sectors and all the islands." Negueruela has also highlighted "the commitment to occupational health" included in the agreement, since it incorporates "the first methodology in Spain to measure workloads".
