Malaga council urges Plaza Mayor not to open until midnight without staff agreement

Councillors backed a motion arguing that the extended opening hours would make it harder for staff to balance work and family life.

The debate attracted relatively little support. Apart from the PSOE opposition party, no political group strongly backed the motion from Con Málaga.

The initiative centred on the Late Night Shopping events and aimed to protect workers' ability to balance their jobs with family life. According to Con Málaga's deputy spokesperson, Toni Morillas, this particularly affects women, who make up most of the workforce in the shopping centres.

Councillor for Employment María Paz Flores, who is also a qualified labour relations specialist, stated repeatedly that the motion interfered with collective bargaining and the social dialogue between employers and unions. She said that "the strongest agreements are not political ones" and added: "We should not confuse supporting workers with taking over their representation."

Flores attempted to amend the motion, but when Morillas rejected the proposed changes, the governing PP party ultimately voted alongside PSOE and Con Málaga in favour of the workers' demands. Vox was the only party to vote against.

Morillas said the employees were "residents of Malaga who expect their elected representatives to stand by them and make it clear that employers must comply with employment law and that company profits should not come at the expense of workers".

Earlier in the meeting, José Juan Curvelo, representing the CCOO trade union, said that women already carry a disproportionate share of caring responsibilities and that midnight closing times would extend working days even further. He also warned that many staff would have to pay for private transport to get home because public transport is limited late at night.

Leonor Gálvez, representing the UGT, opposed plans to keep the centres open until midnight on 30 July and 27 August, warning that the measure could set "a precedent that would ultimately harm workers across the retail sector".

Vox deputy spokesperson Yolanda Gómez said that it was not the city council's role to dictate business opening hours. PSOE councillor Lorena Doña, meanwhile, called for compliance with Spain's workers' statute and "a measure of common sense", expressing her party's full support for the proposal.

At the end of the debate, employees welcomed the motion's approval by an overwhelming majority: ten votes in favour and one against (Vox). They thanked the city council for backing their employment-related demands. The approved motion will now proceed to a future full council meeting for formal consideration.

The debate over a tourist tax returned once again too. Over the years, the governing PP party has repeatedly changed its position: initially rejecting the idea, then supporting it and now opposing the version proposed for implementation through the regional government.

This time, PP and Vox, who govern together in Andalucía, voted against a PSOE proposal that called on the regional government to introduce a tourist tax across Andalucía.

According to PSOE councillor Lorena Doña, such a levy could raise around 23 million euros a year in Malaga. Her estimate was based on the city's 3.75 million hotel overnight stays and 900,000 overnight stays in tourist accommodation in 2025, multiplied by the proposed tax rate.

Doña said that tourism generates significant costs for the city, including making it increasingly difficult for local residents to afford housing and contributing to the disappearance of traditional shops.

She also pointed out that Mayor Francisco de la Torre supports the principle of a tourist tax but believes the wrong authority should introduce it.

According to Doña, the regional government holds full responsibility for tourism policy, so it should create the tax. She said the revenue could fund improved street cleaning, maintenance of the historic centre and beaches, as happens in parts of Catalonia.

Toni Morillas, of Con Málaga, stated that the PP originally supported a regional tourist tax but changed its position after Mayor De la Torre realised that Andalusian regional president Juanma Moreno had no intention of introducing one. She criticised the regional government for effectively ruling out such a tax for at least the next four years.

Vox's Yolanda Gómez said her party opposed the proposal because it rejects tax increases in general. She also stated that the revenue would not be ring-fenced for tourism-related spending but would instead disappear into the city council's general budget. She added that the tax would also affect people who travel to Malaga for work and stay overnight.

Tourism councillor Jacobo Florido defended the mayor's alternative proposal: asking Spain's central government to amend the local government finance act so that municipalities could introduce and retain their own tourist tax. He said that this would allow Malaga to keep all the revenue it collected.

Florido also pointed to Catalonia as an example of why the regional model is flawed. He said some Catalan municipalities oppose the current system because only Barcelona can charge an additional municipal supplement, while other areas must contribute to projects elsewhere in the region, including improvements in the Val d'Aran.

In the end, PP and Vox voted together to reject the PSOE motion calling on the Junta de Andalucía to introduce a regional tourist tax and to begin discussions on how such a tax should be designed.

Read dedicated local reporting for Malaga city