The Unitary Democratic Coalition (CDU:- a left/far left wing coalition between the Portuguese Communist Party and the Ecologist Party), through its regional coordinator Edgar Silva, said today that ‘the so-called tourism recovery in Madeira and Porto Santo is based on the exploitation of its workers.’ One of the clearest examples, he said, was one of the large hotel groups on the island, who through complaints by various workers stated that the hotel group could not even guarantee that its staff would be regularly tested for Covid-19. Furthermore, many workers complained of precarious employment within the tourism and hotel sector, salary inequalities, and unregulated working hours.
Talking to reporters, Edgar Silva, said that within the regions hotel sector workers are suffering from a violation of labour rights, and that they are nothing more than slave labour force who are looking at a very uncertain future, many of whom, have not been paid properly since the beginning of the pandemic.
The CDU has criticised the Regional Government of Madeira (RG) for doing nothing to combat the deterioration of working conditions in the tourism sector, saying that the RG is totally subservient to hotel sector bosses throughout Madeira and Porto Santo and turning a blind eye to their ‘slave labour’ work ethics.
Samantha Gannon
info at madeira-weekly.com
