Marbella hotel staff call on town hall to 'mediate' to allow it to remain open

More than fifty employees of the Gudalpín Banús held a demonstration to ask for commitment to "mobilise all municipal resources within their competence to reach a solution"

María Albarral

Marbella

Tuesday, 23 July 2024, 11:54

Staff at the Hotel Gudalpín Banús in Marbella, which is embroiled in a long-running legal dispute, are continuing to hold demonstrations to prevent the establishment from closing and 180 families from losing their jobs. More than fifty of them gathered at the gates of the Marbella town hall on Monday 22 July with banners reading 'Guadalpín no se cierra', (Guadapín isn't closing) and 'La Ley del Turismo no es solo un papel' (The tourism law isn't just a piece of paper) or 'Alcaldesa, te esperamos' (Mayor, we're waiting for you).

"We are running out of oxygen. We are asking that at least the competent authorities, not that they break the law, but that they let 80 or 90 per cent of the workers work. For that we need them to open the hotel services building, which is the heart of a hotel," said Jackeline Largacha, the employees' representative.

"We are asking Marbella town hall to intercede with the Junta de Andalucía in Malaga, which is the one that has to apply the law. It can only be used as a hotel and there must be an operator and we already have one," she added.

The deputy mayor and spokesman for the government team, Félix Romero, went to meet the staff and offered them "absolute support for their situation" and pledged to "mobilise all municipal resources within our powers to reach a solution".

The councillor stressed that for the town hall "it is vital that tourist establishments continue to provide their function and services" and added that "those affected, like those demonstrating today outside our doors, waiters, chambermaids and cooks, are the ones on whom our town has been built, with the quality service that characterises us".

He went on to say, "We are facing a complex situation, with a judicial resolution and we have already taken some legal steps, even in the court itself", said Romero.

"Our commitment is to the workers who are asking us to mediate and open doors to find a solution, something that we assume as an obligation of both the mayor, Ángeles Muñoz, and the town hall," Romero said, concluding that "we will continue to support them in order to reach an agreement within the current legal framework".

Furlough scheme

The entire workforce of the Hotel Guadalpín Banús in Marbella will enter a furlough plan (ERTE) in the next few days. "We don't have the means to work. If there is no kitchen there are no cooks, if we have no bar there are no waiters, it is a fact. That's why we want them to listen to us, to listen to us and to open up the facilities so that these 180 families can keep our jobs", said Largacha.

The employees have agreed with the company that operates the hotel, Grisoma, that "they will all enter the ERTE in full so that they can take turns and so that no colleague is completely left out while they fight to fix their situation".

According to those affected, the main way to save the 180 jobs is to make the common areas and the hotel services estate available to the operator. "We just want the tourism law to be complied with. What is happening makes no sense. We, the workers, have nothing to do with the conflicts between the owners. We just want to keep our jobs and for the law to be respected. A court will say what it has to say, but in the meantime we can't be left without our livelihood," Largacha stressed.

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