BRITS chasing the sun this summer could face fresh holiday hell as bar staff prepare to strike during peak season.
It comes after 80,000 employees took to the streets in Tenerife earlier in the year demanding better pay and working conditions.
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In a move that could spark chaos for Brits travelling to Tenerife this summer, union bosses said industrial action could start as early as July.
The unions, Sindicalistas de Base and UGT, have issued bosses with an ultimatum, warning of a major walk out if they are not granted a 6.5 per cent salary bump.
They have made it clear that no further negotiations will happen if these conditions are not met.
This isn’t the first time Tenerife has been at the centre of sweeping industrial action.
Last month, cleaners and restaurant workers in the sunny hotspot took to the streets after deeming an offer from their employer not acceptable.
The tourism employers’ association, formed by Ashotel and AERO, had offered a four per cent increase in pay for workers, hoping it would prevent them from protesting during the Easter holidays.
But unions wanted 6.25 per cent.
They said their decision was unanimous and would not change plans to strike against tourists.
With over 170,000 tourism workers in the Canary Islands set to protest, business owners about to welcome thousands of tourists were despairing.
They planned to demonstrate in all the tourist hotspots, including Tenerife, Gran Canaria and Lanzarote.
By law, strikers have to provide a “minimum service” but the unions said hotel cleaning, food and entertainment don’t fall into this category.
They said they must try and preserve the health of hotel workers and provide them with the very best of working conditions.
Elsewhere, locals flooded the streets to protest against mass tourism in the area.
Activists vowed to storm popular tourist attractions, disrupt public events and “confront political leaders” in a fiery new phase of protests kicking off May 18 — right as peak holiday season begins.
“From now on, we will take our fight to the very spaces where their predatory model is perpetuated,” declared pressure group Canarias tiene un límite (The Canaries Have a Limit).
“We will boycott public events, confront political leaders during their appearances and occupy symbolic tourist spaces to make it clear that we will not stop until real change is achieved.”
“The Canary Islands can no longer be a postcard backdrop for the enjoyment of a privileged few,” the statement read.
In a separate warning, the group said: “This cry, which reflects the feelings of a people tired of being ignored and mistreated, will be the beginning of a new stage of struggle: firmer, more direct, more uncomfortable for those who refuse to listen to us and take real measures.”
The backlash follows a 170,000-strong hotel and restaurant workers’ strike across the islands just days ago, with locals slamming low wages and poor working conditions in the booming holiday industry.
In June last year, beach workers also walked off the job over what unions called “precarious” conditions.
As tensions boil over, the Canary Islands Government has now announced plans to completely overhaul its outdated 30-year-old tourism laws in a landmark reform effort.
Alfonso Cabello, spokesperson for the regional government, said: “We’re doing this the Canary Islands way — extending a hand and listening to everyone.”
The sweeping reforms aim to tackle everything from sky-high housing costs in tourist areas to crumbling infrastructure and overworked public services.
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