Joe Duggan (Reporter)
TRADE unions have threatened an all-out ‘war’ against Mallorca hotel, bar and club owners looking to undercut 50,000 workers.
Bosses across the island want to abandon a legal agreement to raise staff salaries next year as they will be ‘too high’ and ‘unacceptable’.
“They will ignore this agreement over my dead body,” said UGT union leader Antonio Copete.
Last year, the CCOO union denounced 36 hotels that upgraded from three stars to four but didn’t hike their employees’ wages, leading to the current agreement.
But Balearic restaurant and club presidents Alfonso Robledo and Jesus Sanchez now claim the proposed pay rises would be unsustainable for smaller establishments.
CCOO boss Silvia Montejano has labelled the move as a ‘declaration of war’, insisting unions ‘will have to stand up to them’.
Tourism has experienced a record boom in recent years, with hotel prices up 10%, whereas workers wages have risen only 1.25% in the past four seasons.
