Brits headed for the Canary Islands for the Easter weekend have been warned of potential carnage on the island of Tenerife as a significant strike is set to occur. Hotel workers on the island are set to stage a walkout after unions rejected a pay deal on Saturday (April 12).
The walkout was set to take place across the archipelago but has been suspended in the neighbouring islands of Gran Canaria, Lanzarote and Fuerteventura. Manuel Fitas, spokesperson for the Federación Sindical Canaria (FSC), declared on Saturday that the agreement reached with employers in Las Palmas was “absolutely insufficient.” As such, the strike will continue as planned on the most popular Canary island.
The suspension in the other islands came after the employers’ association FETH reached a deal with national unions CCOO and UGT.
The agreement includes a one-off €650 (£561) bonus to be paid next month to offset the loss of purchasing power, alongside a 9% salary increase spread over the next 12 months, Canarian Weekly reported.
However, Fitas criticised the terms and the negotiation process, which he said was conducted without input from the official strike committee.
“Recovering just 2.75% of lost purchasing power and locking in a 4% wage increase without knowing how the economy will evolve for the remainder of 2025 falls short of our objectives,” he said.
The situation in Tenerife is particularly sensitive, he added, considering hospitality workers saw their wages frozen throughout 2020 and 2021, during the height of the pandemic. This, he argued, makes the proposed recovery measures inadequate.
As a result, the strike action will proceed in Tenerife this coming weekend unless a satisfactory proposal emerges from meetings scheduled on Monday (April 14) between unions and employers in the province.
Any new offer will be presented to workers during a general assembly on Tuesday in Adeje.
The outcome of that meeting could determine whether the industrial action is extended or resolved for the Easter period, one of the industry’s biggest travel periods outside the summer.
If the strike goes ahead, it will take place on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday.
Last year, Tenerife welcomed over seven million tourists alone, including over 6.2 million international tourists. Easter 2024 likely contributed significantly to these overall numbers, considering the Canary Islands saw record tourism figures in the first quarter of the year, including a 21% increase in spending in March—when Easter occurred—according to Canarian Weekly.
