Lifeguards on Palma’s beaches have called for an indefinite strike starting next Sunday, May 21, demanding labor and wage reforms agreed last year and to date not implemented. Thus, as confirmed by the secretary of the lifeguard union, Julian Delgado, the entire workforce, approximately 45 employees in low season and 60 in high season, will leave the municipality’s beaches alone unless the concessionaire, emergency The position SetMill SL does not comply with. commitment that was achieved in the summer of 2022.
It must be recalled that the collective has already called for two protests last year to demand better conditions. These movements ended the conflict at TAMIB, where the three parties, the company, the employees and the town hall, agreed, among other issues, on expanding the workforce, improving pay and infrastructure, and instead starting the season in early April. agreed. May 1st, as always. The agreement ended the protests and the season ended as usual, but problems came this year when the group noticed that none of the agreed upon agreements were being implemented, “We haven’t started the campaign in April, nor have our There isn’t enough infrastructure, nor have the staff and salaries increased,” Delgado says.
The emergency settlement argues that it is not possible to anticipate salary increases and workforce expansion from the city council’s funding, and ensures that the court will include improvements to the new contract specifications that, In principle, it will be resolved in the month of August as the bases are published and the reception of proposals is closed on these days. Town hall sources also say the company has been approved an extraordinary payment to agree to more employees, better pay and extended working hours, and to ask the company to comply with what has been agreed. Furthermore, as the Consistory has fulfilled all commitments and it is expected that the next year, 2024, the season will be extended to April as agreed. The truth is that, according to the representative of the lifeguards, “all the agreements made a year ago have been violated and no measures have been implemented to improve the service.” So they have given a strike call which includes their entire schedule from 11:00 am to 7:00 pm. Professionals, in this sense, give assurances that they will not adhere to minimum services, they recall, on other occasions they were imposed which were equivalent to 100 per cent of the service as they considered it necessary.
Delgado had bemoaned a few weeks earlier that they were going to start the season “without adequate infrastructure and means”. He then criticized that some of the 13 towers on the Palmesan coast were “not in good condition” and that some of them were “missing stairs.” They also questioned, among other things, the condition in which the infirmary was found and the lack of adequate material. “Yet, as of the current date, they have not started to install access measures. There are beaches that still do not have walkways installed for wheelchair users. We are suffering from disastrous management. Not only have we We have not improved rather we are worse than we were in other years”, he remarked.
The relief workers plan to continue the protest until they get reforms. According to unionists, the only option to call off the strike is a meeting scheduled at TAMIB in the coming days and in which they will demand “immediate” improvements, under the threat of abandoning six of the municipality’s beaches (Plaza de Palma, Cala Estancia, Ciutat Jardi, Portixol, Can Pere Antoni and Cala Major) without security service.
