Related news: Mallorca hospitality: 35-hour working week to be demanded

On Thursday, negotiations will finally start for the new collective bargaining agreement that affects some 180,000 workers in the Balearic hospitality industry . This agreement is due to come into effect from the first of April this year and will update the existing agreement that was for two years; these agreements normally cover four-year periods.

Hospitality is the largest employment sector in the Balearics, and as the agreement is directly related to tourism, it attracts way more attention than similar agreements for the likes of retail, construction or agriculture. The two most recent agreements were said to have been 'historic' because of the scale of pay increases and the introduction of measures to reduce workload, e.g. the 2023 agreement regarding the work of hotel chambermaids. At the end of 2017, the Mallorca Hoteliers Federation stunned the unions and the Balearic Government by opening the negotiations with the offer of a 17% pay increase over four years (2018-2022). The unions had been looking for ten per cent. The negotiations were done and dusted in record time.

The pandemic affected that agreement and the timing of its revision. 2023's was something of an interim measure, an 8.3% pay increase over two years having reflected the 2017 agreement in that it contained one year with a five per cent rise ; the 2017 agreement had two years with five per cent.

Prior to 2017 there had never been an increase as high as five per cent. This time round the unions want another 'historic' agreement that will exceed five per cent, be this for one year or more. The unions will also be pressing for a series of measures regarding working conditions. Top of the list is a reduction to the working week .

While the Spanish Government has announced an intended 37.5-hour working week, subject to approval by Congress, the two main unions involved with the hospitality negotiations have in any event set out their positions for 37.5 hours and for 35 hours . The CCOO wants 37.5 while the UGT wants 35. The UGT has a greater representation around the negotiating table than the CCOO. Both the unions have muscle, but the UGT's is the more powerful voice. In the lead-up to the negotiations, the UGT has been speaking in terms of its 'red lines' - plus-five per cent pay is one, the 35-hour week is another.

The employers have rejected both these demands . However, the employers are far from equally represented. They include the hoteliers federations in Mallorca, Menorca and Ibiza/Formentera, the CAEB Restaurants Association, similar bodies for bars and restaurants from the other islands, and the ABONE nightlife association. Such is the representation that in theory the Mallorca hoteliers and the UGT could between them strike a majority agreement that the others would have to follow. While this is most unlikely to happen, this weighting highlights the junior nature of the restaurants and nightlife in particular. They weren't happy with either the 2017 or the 2023 agreement.

Where the government is concerned, the Partido Popular have said they will adopt a hands-off approach to the negotiations. This will be by contrast to 2017 and 2023, when the PSOE-led government was very much hands-on. A worry going into the negotiations is that the government will have to become involved. The two sides - employers and unions - appear to be far apart, which does raise the spectre of potential industrial action .

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