The CCOO will call for mobilization in the tourism sector if negotiations on more than 20 agreements are not blocked.

It seems that inflation is not enough to stop the resumption of tourism and hotels are experiencing Easter by booking at a similar level in 2019. Despite this recovery, collective bargaining is not progressing at the same pace. There are currently more than 20 overdue contracts and union representatives are mobilizing if negotiations are not resumed.

Some of the mobilization that will begin in Murcia this Easter may be just the first step. “There will be mobilization if collective bargaining is not blocked,” said Jose Maria Martinez, secretary general of the CCOO Services Federation, at the presentation of a report on Tourism Activity Analysis in Spain on Wednesday.

“We have 22 contracts blocked for more than two years,” he said. “This is 33% of the templates and 25% of the total number of contracts.

The trade union says that after the labor reform, it is “time” for the tourism sector to “abandon business models based on short-term, temporary, biased, outsourced and wage dumping and bet on the rules of the game. Promoted from social dialogue. ” That is, to improve “employment stability, reduce temporary employment and bias, rebalance the rules of the collective bargaining game.” Also, bets on “outsourcing restrictions, vocational training, internal flexibility mechanisms, raising the minimum wage and effective equality between women and men.”

“And if this is not the case, or in areas where they do not want to share, we will specify the escalation of mobilization at the global or territorial level in the unity of action with UGT and with sector templates. “Easter and summer, as hotspots, call for action against instability and the blocking of collective bargaining in the hospitality industry,” the CCOO concluded.

In the report, the union emphasizes that only 14 of the 54 agreements in the hospitality sector are in force, 22 have expired and 18 are already being negotiated. Thus, under the current contract, there are 496,572 employees, for a total of 43%.

“To the 18 treaties that expired in 2022, we need to add others, such as the ones we could not sign in 2021 due to the pandemic, as well as others that have not been negotiated for several years. Blockade by employers such as Agreement A Coruña, valava, Almeria, Asturias, Badajoz, Barcelona (Campings), Ceuta, Granada, Guipúzcoa (recovery), Guipúzcoa (accommodation), Huelva, Las Palmas, León, Lugo, Madrid (accommodation), Melilla, Murcia, Palencia, Rioja, Salamanca, Seville and Zamora, ”CCOO lists.

In 2022 alone, more than 179,000 employees in Catalonia were affected by the expiration of their contracts.

Accuses NH of blocking negotiations

The trade union is particularly critical of the NH Hotel Group, as it is one of the most reluctant when it comes to negotiating a new common framework for the sector and its management in the application of labor reform, turning temporary contracts into continuous permanent contracts.

“When industry agreements prevail, it is not worth outsourcing risks or wages, especially large chains like the NH,” Jose Maria Martinez told a news conference.

The union mentions this hotel group because it is “an NH that blocks at the state level, delays and prevents a uniform contract framework across the state,” Martinez concludes.

“Labor reform indicates that there can be no sectoral agreements on company contracts,” in addition to requiring that sectoral agreements for outsourced services, such as room cleaning, also apply. “There is no business for the exploiter, changing habits is a cost, a lot depends on reducing wages to earn money,” he argued.

For this reason, the CCOO suggests that if the NH does not change this situation, both the labor inspectorate can act and a lawsuit can be initiated. “We want them to follow the law as soon as possible and change their bad practices.

The NH Group responds to this criticism and claims that “it has always participated in the negotiation table of various agreements with many companies and employers”. He cites the examples of Madrid, Catalonia, A Coru .a or Valencia, as well as the state labor contract for hospitality. “Always calling for negotiations and without blocking them at any time.”

“All these agreements have always been closed by agreement of the parties. The most recent is the state labor contract for the hotel industry, in December last year, or the Valencia hotel industry contract, at the end of 2021, ”explains a company representative.

“Similarly, the NH supports the conversion of temporary contracts into permanent terminated contracts, as evidenced by the 300 permanent terminated contracts that have been awarded so far in 2022, accounting for 65% of all total contracts awarded,” he wrote.

The average salary is 1119 euros

The CCOO also points out that although the average salary in Spain in 2020 was estimated at € 2,039 per month, in the hotel industry, as a major activity group in the tourism sector, this salary was estimated at € 1,119. In addition, the pandemic year decreased by almost 15%.

Temporary and part-time employment rates in the hotel industry exceed 30%, while in the case of women it is higher. “The recovery from the Covid 19 crisis, which began in 2021, further worsens the quality of employment in the hospitality industry, with 34% of temporary employment in the fourth quarter (36% for women) and 34% of temporary employment. Part-time rate (43% for women). He notes that, as a reference, the average rate of temporary work in the entire economy is 24% (25% for women) and 17% for part-time work (28% for women).

At the same time, the union notes that according to the annual survey of the salary structure, according to 2019 data, the average average salary of all employees, men was 26,934 euros. Meanwhile, women working in the hospitality industry were left with a total of € 13,410. “Involuntary bias is what causes this shortcoming,” the CCOO said.