Pine Cliffs in staff lay-off row with workers' union

One of the unions representing the Algarve’s tourism workers is concerned about lay-offs at the Sheraton Algarve at the Pine Cliffs resort near Albufeira.

More than concern, union leaders have expressed "great amazement" when it became aware that United Investments Portugal, the owner of the Pine Cliffs Resort, which includes the Sheraton Algarve Hotel, once again has laid-off staff at the same time as carrying out major investment such as the recent purchase of Vivamarinha Hotel & Suites, located in Quinta da Marinha in Cascais, and the construction of the new Vale do Freixo Golf & Country resort in the Loulé council area.

According to a statement from the Union of Workers in the Hospitality Industry of the Algarve, the lay-offs could be considered illegal, since the law says that a 'lay-off' is "a temporary process caused by market reasons, structural or technological disasters or other events which seriously have affected normal business activity," and lay-offs only can be applied "provided that such measures are essential to ensure the economic viability and the maintenance of work posts."

Therefore, the Trade Union does not understand "how a company makes use of public Social Security money and claiming to be struggling to ensure its viability while at the same time making such large investments."

The union today communicated with the Minister of Labour, Solidarity and Social Security demanding that the government takes "the necessary measures to put an end to this illegality" and calls "the workers not to go along with this assault on the coffers of the Social Security department."

This same situation occurred in January 2013, when the Union sent a request for urgent intervention by the Authority for Conditions at Work when 80 staff were stood down in the off season.

On the other side of the coin, the Algarve’s hotels do not need staff at the levels required during the summer tourism peak. Therefore, permanent posts are restricted to those essential to keep hotels open at minimum staffing levels.

The unions want permanent jobs for their members and for businesses to keep staff on in the Winter months, whether there are customers to serve, or not.   

In between is the current reality with hotel companies taking on staff on short-term contracts and the unions complaining when there are temporary lay-offs due to insufficient work for staff to do all year round.

In the case of United Investments Portugal, the company might not have money to invest in new projects if it paid a full compliment of staff 12 months a year in its existing hotel units.

Government ministers and secretaries of state, tourism bodies and local business associations debate annually and at length the ‘seasonality’ of tourism and how to overcome its detrimental effects on employment.

There is no easy answer but as the Algarve’s business community develops alternatives to the ‘sun and sand’ type of holiday, the tourism year lengthens and employees' social security contributions mount, useful when paying staff that have been laid-off for a few months.

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