They called for an economic model in the that “does not generate job insecurity” and claimed that the tourist overcrowding impoverishes citizens, increases the workload and does not improve the quality of life. The spokeswoman for UGT Baleares considered that overcrowded tourism is “unsustainable” from a social, economic and environmental point of view. According to Garí, it causes work overloads, prevents access to housing and does not generate social welfare.
“In the Balearics everything is growing except the quality of life,” she said, criticising the increase in tourists, flights, economic indicators, profits and employment - “is not improving people’s lives”.
The secretary general of the CCOO also referred to this issue, criticising that the model “promotes labour exploitation” and “only enriches certain businessmen”. Furthermore, he continued, it has repercussions in terms of “job insecurity”, which is demonstrated by the “low wages”, which do not make it possible to meet the costs of living or to have access to housing.
Likewise, the UGT spokesperson criticised the fact that “all” the rental offer “is aimed at visitors”, while residents “cannot find flats to live in” due to the high prices caused by “touristification”. According to her, the business profits resulting from tourism “do not have an impact” on improving family and social welfare on the islands, and overcrowding “condemns” working people to poverty and “makes their jobs and their lives more precarious with exhausting working hours”.
She called on the government to “take advantage” of the resignation of the councillor for Housing, Territory and Mobility, Marta Vidal, and to consider “a courageous change” in housing policy in order to draw up a shock plan with short-term measures and a strategy for the future. “We have precariousness in the workplaces, with a model that increases workloads as a result of overcrowding,” said the secretary general of the CCOO, pointing out that this impoverishes the working class more and more.
For his part, the secretary general of STEI also insisted that the population of the Balearics is “impoverished”, a situation that “must be reversed. We are not saying no to tourism, we are saying no to overcrowding,” he said. He also pointed out that wealth in the islands is “badly distributed” and that the average Balearic income is below the national average. However, he called for a “change of course” towards better social and economic justice.
All in all, the three unions have called on the workers of the islands, as well as the citizens as a whole, to attend Sunday’s demonstration. “We don’t want more inequality in our autonomous community,” García concluded.
14 comments
To be able to write a comment, you have to be registered and logged in
Richard PearsonThe communists are not in power. If you're talking about Podemos, only a small percentage of them are communists. And if you want someone to blame for the increase in the cost of living/inflation, take a look at corporate profiteering, don't try and blame those who have the least.
No, it wasn’t the Socialists, it was the Communists. The Socialists only voted affirmatively to keep them onboard, as they are essential for the PSOE to remain in power. The end result is that they are paying more tax as they are now in a higher tax bracket, prices of essentials, food and rent have increased and the people who typically earn the minimum salary are now finding it harder to be given a full weeks job, being offered half days instead of full days. Do some research about what has/is happening in California after Governor Newsom increased the minimum wage for fast food workers to $ 20 per hour.
Richard PearsonWell at least the socialists have raised the minimum wage 3 times, something that the PP and Vox voted against on all 3 occasions. The PP and Vox think that people should still work for 600€ a month. Maybe they should try and survive on that.
Ulla JacksonI know. And if they are, they aren’t doing a very good job or trying very hard, possibly because their paymasters (the PSOE) have told them to cool it. To compensate, they are trying very hard to reduce the maximum working week to 37,5 hours. How this will increase the average workers standard of living is anyone’s guess. I suggest you read Andrew Ede’s column in this paper for additional information about this subject. Cheers
Richard PearsonThe Unions are complaining that the salaries are to low, but nowhere in this article, state that the Unions are fighting for higher salaries.
Ulla JacksonWho says the Unions are accepting low salaries ? Or, if they are, could it be because the Socialists are in power and they don’t want to annoy them ? I mean they do receive nearly € 20 million a year of taxpayers money to help to keep them afloat. You surely must agree that the unions would make life a lot easier for the workers if they demanded lower social costs, lower income tax rates and especially no IVA on food. Which brings me back to my second point.
It would be nice if the general public showed as much furore about illegal economic undocumented migrants with no return tickets as they are about prosperous legal travelers with a passport and with no desire to stay past their allotted time. As an aside, are the protestors still in favour of charging these people the “tourist” tax or should they just demand that they transfer the money without bothering to come ?
The last thing anyone needs on holiday, is a protest against them being there. This has definitely put us off bringing our grandchildren and will go elsewhere.
Why don't the unions block the parliament or streets in front of politicians' houses? These are the people responsible for many years of neglect and the current situation. It is all so easy to target individual tourists to vent frustration, isn't it? And then nothing happens as usual. I keep seeing "We are not against tourists..." ad nauseam, but then you see "Tourists go home", "Guiris arruix", "the plague", and undeniably and highly offensive "Guiris de mi**da" or "ATAB" targeted precisely at tourists. What a hypocrisy on the side of protest organizers. They try to build political capital by manipulating crowds, or whatever their hidden goal is, but do not try to actually solve anything. Nice...
Where is th line between tourists and overcrowding, the talk about? How about the union fights for higher salaries rather than seem to accept the low salaries at the moment.