Staff sit-in over redundancies continues at hotel on Costa del Sol's Golden Mile

Staff at a hotel on the Golden Mile in Marbella are a week into their indefinite sit-in over a dispute over redundancy. They claim they should be laid off temporarily and not dismissed when a new hotel operator takes over the building.

The 107 workers at the Senator hotel, behind the conference centre, are waiting for tomorrow (Saturday 8 November), the date on which the collective dismissal laid out by their existing employer, Grupo Hoteles Playa, will take effect. This comes after that firm's operating lease with the owner of the building, Immobiliario Prico, ended on 31 October.

November 8 marks the end of a 30-day legal consultation period that accompanies so-called redundancy EREs such as the one proposed by the company. The workers, however, are calling for the redundancy process to be converted into a temporary measure (ERTE), which would guarantee their jobs once a complete renovation - set to be carried out by the new tenant, the Meliá hotel chain - is completed, with reopening planned for 2027.

The final meeting of the consultation period took place on Monday this week, but no clear progress was made and the CCOO union says it will help the workers with any legal action.

During the sit-in, which began last Friday, between 20 and 30 people remain in the hotel during the day, and between 10 and 15 stay overnight. Until recently, they had access to a fridge and kitchen left for their use, but as of Monday they can no longer use them, since Hoteles Playa is completing the removal of all furniture.