The Federation of Services, Mobility and Consumer Affairs of the UGT (FeSMC-UGT) union in the Balearics has demanded that the tourist industry shares the “magnificent benefits” of tourism with a “strong” wage increase in the hotel industry, after the publication of data on visitors and tourist spending in the Balearics in July.
The union has asked the employers of the hospitality sector to be “sensitive” and support a “strong” wage increase to “share the economic results of this season with workers in the sector”.
The UGT has asked hotel and catering employers to “be generous” and to “share the wealth generated by the more than 150,000 workers”.
“Faced with the historic increase in tourist spending, the profitability of the sector and business profits, we ask the business community to recognise the effort being made by the workforce and to be favourable to strong wage increases,” said the secretary general of FeSMC-UGT, José García.
With regard to inflation, the secretary general stressed that workers “are losing purchasing power” due to the increase in the cost of the shopping, fuel and energy, “which is why wage increases are being diluted”.
Lastly, García insisted that the islands “have to compete by improving their quality of tourism”, and for this reason, he is committed to raising wages, reducing workloads and work rates, and improving other conditions, such as working hours.
In Spain, 9.1 million visitors in July spent close to 12 billion euros, more than twice as much as in 2021.