The workers and entrepreneurs of Madrid’s hospitality industry look far from toasting this Christmas. Due to the lack of agreement in the sector’s collective bargaining negotiations, unions began to take action: Workers’ Commissions (CCOO) Called for strikes on 25 and 31 December and 1, 5 and 6 January; while The General Trade Union (UGT) announced it will do the same this Monday If hoteliers continue to block wage increases.
The positions and demands of both trade union organizations are essentially the same: they condemned the agreement after 12 months of negotiations and four fruitless mediation meetings at the Regional Institute of Mediation and Arbitration of the Community of Madrid (IRMA). , employer still refuses to accept decent wages and working conditions For the more than 150,000 hospitality workers in Madrid.
According to CCOO, The industry “enslaved” its employeesand shows “a disregard for the needs of hard-working people whose efforts, at the end of the day, move their businesses forward.” So last Saturday “Stop” call to the industry Christmas, New Year’s Eve and Kings Agree on reasonable salary increases and end the precarity of working conditions.
Favorable conditions and 15% increase
In the same vein, the UGT reported this Monday: If the attitude of employers to block salary increases continues, when sales and invoicing “increase by up to 25% compared to the previous year” The union is doomed to “conflicts, protests and strikes”.
For unity, “The only clear thing we have is that the employers’ associations have shown no interest in signing an agreement, the meeting has been postponed after every progress has been made to avoid the emergence of this agreement, which is very much needed in an industry such as the Hospitality Industry in Madrid, where more than 150,000 workers are affected.”
“We are interested in signing a collective agreement that guarantees a penalized sector such as the hospitality industry, compensates for lost wages in these years, proposes a total raise of 15 percent for 2023, 2024 and 2025, and stipulates the establishment of decent working conditions”, a press states UGT in its newsletter.
CCOO also recommends 15 percent salary increase in three years -7% until 2023, 4% until 2024 and 4% until 2025-, regulation of the temporary permanent part-time contract, improvement of promotion criteria and adaptation of existing labor legislation in the contract.
Employers say deal is their priority
In response to the various strikes planned in the industry, businessmen stated: His “absolute priority” is to close collective bargaining He said they would continue to work with workers “until an agreement is reached” and would “redouble efforts if necessary.”
This was stated this Monday by the Madrid Hotel Association in a joint note with the organisations. Madrid and AMER at nightIt ensures that “significant progress” has already been made on pay for all workers in the Community of Madrid, with an agreed 15% increase within three years (by 2025).
“In order to provide stability for companies and workers, we hope to expand this preliminary agreement to cover other issues on the table, such as training, professional promotion of employees and recruitment,” the joint statement reads.