Major Majorca hotel strike update after workers unveiled plans for devastating airport blockade

HOTEL workers planning to blockade Majorca's airport in a major protest over pay and conditions have called off the potentially devastating strike.

It comes after over 180,000 workers in the Balearic Islands announced plans to strike on multiple dates throughout July.

But in a major update, unions representing the hundreds of thousands of hospitality workers reached an agreement with bosses.

Unions previously said the goal of the airport blockade was to prevent entry and access points to the Balearics, which include Majorca, Ibiza and Menorca.

The blockade was scheduled for July 10 - the first day of the Balearics' anti-tourism strikes.

Walkouts were set to be repeated on July 18, 19, 25 and 31, with each one lasting the full 24 hours.

A general strike in the hospitality sector, along with demonstrations across the Balearics’ three main islands, was officially announced by the UGT union on Monday.

The measure - carried out jointly with the CCOO union (Workers' Commissions) - was set to affect hotels, tourist accommodation, bars, restaurants, catering services, nightclubs and nightclubs.

It comes after fresh hopes on Monday that the strikes would be called off after hotel chiefs indicated they had reached an agreement "in principle" with the union came true

Both the Government Delegation and tourism bosses were reportedly aware of the looming strikes and protests.

On July 10, marches in Majorca were set to begin at the Paseo Marítimo de Palma (at the height of Titos) and the Son Sant Joan Airport.

Access points for arrivals and departures at Playa de Palma (Las Maravillas), Alcudia, Magaluf and Cala Millor would have been blocked.

The UGT called on nearly 180,000 workers to join these strikes.

The goal was to put pressure on the hospitality sector to improve pay and working conditions.

Workers in the Balearics are paid less than the average hospitality worker in Spain, according to the CCOO.

The strike alert was triggered on June 26 after unions walked out of talks over disagreements on pay raises and better working conditions.

The UGT rejected an offer for an 11 percent salary increase, saying the gap between their demands and the employers' proposal was still "too great".

José García Relucio, General Secretary of the Federation of Services, Mobility and Consumption of UGT, said the talks "could not have gone worse" and condemned employers' inflexibility around pay.

Meanwhile, Javier Vich, President of the Hotel Business Federation of Majorca, blamed unions for failing to meet a compromise.

But he added that employers were making "all the necessary efforts" to reach a "fair" agreement with workers.

When talks began, employers offered a salary raise of 8.5 percent over three years - a figure that rose to 9.5 percent and finally stood at 11 percent.

The CCOO was pushing for a 15 percent raise, while the UGT was after a 16 to 19 percent raise over three years.

Employers also previously rejected the UGT's proposal to reduce workers' hours to 35 per week.

The UGT representatives left the meeting without signing the minutes of the session, while CCOO signed and showed "willingness in favour of the agreement".

It comes as the streets of Majorca have seen a number of protests against overtourism since the start of the year.

In June, anti-tourist protestors swarmed a table of dining Brits and chanted "go home" and "go to hell".

Officers were called to the scene in central Palma.

Meanwhile, one Majorcan resident revealed a new, more insidious tactic deployed by locals to keep tourists out of popular beaches.

Explaining the trick in a video online, she said locals are making up names for "secret" coves that are actually "dangerous" parts of the city located miles away from the coast.