Hotel maids in Spain rebel against low salaries

MADRID: Spain is enjoying a surge in visitors, but hotel maids are not reaping the rewards and are rebelling against their low salaries, which can be as little as two euros to clean a room.

The country, which welcomed over 68 million foreign tourists last year -- its third consecutive year of record numbers -- employs around 100,000 hotel maids, according to union estimates.

Over the past two years more and more maids have been challenging their contracts in courts and coming out in the press with tales of exploitation in the world’s third most visited country.

Pepita Garcia Lupianez, who has worked for 40 years in the seaside resort of Torremolinos on the Costa del Sol, is one of the leaders of the fight despite enjoying better conditions than most.

She had a full-time contract and earns 1,300 euros per month, far above the minimum wage of 764.40 euros.

“I am almost ashamed when I meet with colleagues employed by subcontractors who have contracts of four to six hours and work in reality eight or ten hours,” said Lupianez, 59, a representative with Spain’s biggest union, Comisiones Obreras (CCOO).

“Their employers tells them: ‘Until you have finished, you can’t leave!’”.  Lupianez took part in a protest in the southern city of Malaga on Thursday against a reform of Spain’s labour code in 2012 which maids say has led to lower salaries. The reform made firing workers easier and cheaper and weakened collective bargaining agreements. Outsourcing of cleaning to less expensive firms has since become widespread.