Santana celebrates backing for 'kellys' upgrades in the Tourism Regulation Law

NC‑BC states that its amendments allowed the inclusion of mandatory motorized carts, the removal of Nordic duvets, and the setting of fair room‑to‑staff ratios in the Tourism Regulation Law that is about to reach the Parliament of the Canary Islands.

The presenter for Nueva Canarias‑Canary Bloc (NC‑BC), Natalia Santana, in the amendment of the Tourism Regulation Law, valued this Friday in a parliamentary committee the consensus reached in the report of the bill, aimed at improving the working conditions and health of floor cleaners in the archipelago.

During her speaking turn, Santana said that the agreement reached responds to a “fair and reasonable” demand that has been on the table for years and is directly linked to the health of the islands’ workers.

The party said in a statement that it had succeeded in incorporating measures proposed by the kellys, such as:

• the mandatory implementation of motorized carts,
• the removal of items that increase physical effort, like Nordic duvets,
• and the conduct of workload studies that set “fair” room‑to‑staff ratios.

Santana thanked the collaboration and goodwill of the various groups to push the text forward, while also noting that the consensus “was not born at the outset.”

She indicated that the groups supporting the government of Fernando Clavijo (CC, PP, ASG and AHI) initially presented amendments aimed at removing the core of the reform – the introduction of elevating beds in hotel establishments.

“Finally” common sense prevailed. When thousands of workers have been denouncing for years the serious health problems derived from their work, “the responsible thing is not to look away but to act,” Santana emphasized.

The parliamentarian noted that the report incorporates three of the four NC‑BC amendments. Among them are the mandatory motorized carts, the removal of physical‑effort‑increasing items such as Nordic duvets, and the workload studies that set “fair” room‑to‑staff ratios – all measures championed by the kellys.

Santana referred to the current moment of the tourism sector in the islands, which is seeing record visitor numbers, to underline that “there is a B side.” She recalled that recently hospitality workers had to call a strike to achieve wage improvements, a process the CC and PP executive tried to curb with an abusive minimum‑service decree.

While the number of tourists continues to grow, Santana added that the workers who keep hotels running daily still face “extremely harsh” working conditions. If there is a group that reflects, in a “direct and real” way the duality of tourism, it is undoubtedly the floor cleaners; women who, “as they themselves told the Chamber, cannot cope with it in their souls,” the nationalist deputy quoted.

For NC‑BC, the legislative amendment, which will be definitively approved in an upcoming plenary session, means recognizing a reality that the affected have been denouncing for years. It refers to the fact that the tourism model “cannot continue to advance at the expense of the physical deterioration” of those who sustain it.

According to Santana, and as the NC‑BC statement concluded, this initiative is an “important step, which does not fix everything, but finally gives dignity” to the working conditions of the kellys.