From this Sunday, September 28, lifeguards in two Mallorca municipalities and three in Ibiza are staging an indefinite strike in protest at job insecurity and what they say is a lack of safety on beaches due to insufficient funding.
The two municipalities in Mallorca are Calvia and Palma. Beaches therefore include Magaluf, Palmanova and Santa Ponsa in Calvia as well as Cala Major and the Playa de Palma resorts. A 100% minimum service level requirement has added to the lifeguards' discontent, as they say this violates their right to strike. While there are just the two municipalities for now, spokesperson for the lifeguards' union in Mallorca, Julián Delgado, anticipates that the strike will spread to other parts of the island.
Delgado says poor working conditions include employees being forced to work overtime. The low pay makes it difficult for them to make ends meet. "It is no surprise that some are living in caravans or even on the beaches themselves."
Complaints about housing were voiced at a protest on Palma's Paseo Marítimo on Sunday morning. The lifeguards' situation is "incompatible with dignity" and is marked by pay eroded by inflation, by temporary employment and by conditions that "prevent independent living, especially in the context of a severe housing crisis".
In their view, "responsibility lies with the Balearic Government and President Marga Prohens". There were banners calling for her resignation. They accuse the regional government of ignoring the housing emergency and of failing to take advantage of the "tourism surplus" to improve and strengthen public services. The government is "complicit" with the hoteliers and favours them.
They also accuse the government's emergencies directorate of allowing town halls and companies to violate legislation and so put lives at risk by leaving beaches without lifeguards or allowing the hiring of lifeguards without the proper qualifications. "A life is worth less and less to this government."