On Mother Kelly's Doorstep
As if coming from Bethnal Green, home of the eponymous threshold on Paradise Row, to the Canary Islands weren't culture shock enough, it was a surprise on arrival to encounter Las Kellys Association.
When visiting the Islands I'm lucky to be able to stay in an old house (casa antigua) up in the hills belonging to my Canarian family. This being the case I've never had to rely on hotels or apartments here and consequently have never experienced first hand the work of las que limpian (those who clean) - chambermaids in the English of my generation, now housekeeping or hospitality workers. However, I've never been in any doubt, after experiencing hotel stays elsewhere, that these women work extremely hard and are probably grievously exploited by their employers.
Thus it was that I found myself yesterday on a Kellys' manifestación (rally) in Las Américas, that epicentre of package holidays in Tenerife, joining a group of righteously angry women in saying "enough". Las Kellys, an anglicised contraction of the Spanish que limpian, began as an informal social media group in 2014 but became an official association in 2016. Low paid workers had become increasingly disadvantaged by the neoliberal policies of the then rightwing PP government but, despite having met with Prime Minister Rajoy to make their case, had seen few if any improvements in pay and conditions before the leftwing coalition government of Pedro Sánchez took over in 2017. The Kellys now have a Manifesto and a well-organised structure but when they are working all the hours God sends for a meagre pittance it must be very hard to find the time or energy for street protests.
However, the fact that a demonstration of the kind I went on yesterday is still necessary seven years later would suggest that little has improved in reality. Despite the introduction of national legislation it appears that the autonomous regions are not obliged to apply nationally agreed measures which would significantly improve pay and conditions for this particularly vulnerable group of workers. One of the potentially crucial reasons for this became apparent on yesterday's march through central Las Américas, the heart of the hotel district.
As the noisy protesters paraded through the streets, blocking traffic, accompanied by a modest police presence, puzzled holidaymakers gathered on balconies or sidewalks to watch the procession go by. It was obvious they hadn't the first clue as to what was going on. Maybe they thought it was yet another carnival or fiesta, in which Spanish culture abounds. We few English speakers started shouting "support the workers who clean your rooms" but to what effect it was impossible to judge from the blank looks we received.
And I think this is the key - hotel guests simply don't get it and need engaging as much as, if not more than, the employers. It is through paying guests that pressure could best be exerted. I'm not advocating boycott but awareness is a starting point to action. However, if the Kellys were to be given proper terms and conditions it would come at a cost, which would inevitably be passed on to consumers. And there's the rub; tourists in the package holiday sector, especially Brits, are acutely cost-conscious and might baulk at the thought of paying even modest rate increases. This relative lack of spending power has led several Canarian island mayors to question whether they need a 'better class' of tourist than the British 'fly-and-flop' brigade. (This has about it a nasty whiff of xenophobia but, when it comes to Brits, one might say it's a case of the biter bit!)
Given the proven ecological damage caused by mass tourism it is tempting to say "tough shit, mate", if you can't afford it, don't come". But if they stopped coming that would have two major consequences: depriving the Kellys of work and working-class Northern Europeans, especially Brits, of some much-needed winter sun. But affordability should never equal exploitation and visitors should examine their consciences, although I would suggest the onus is equally, if not more, on tne hotel owners and shareholders to look to their profit-margins. Despite sectoral pleas of ultra-tight margins in the budget holiday market I suspect many are doing very nicely thank you. But if they really can't afford to pay living wages with decent conditions they should either re-evaluate their offer (ie: see if they can upgrade their facilities and charge more) or close.
Many, if not most, of the Kelly workforce are not native Canarians but come from Peninsular Spain or the Hispanosphere of Cuba and Latin-America. A reduction in Northern European budget tourists might also necessitate mainland Spain, and the Canaries as an autonomous region of Spain, undergoing the uncomfortable exercise of examining whether they can any longer sustain such a large cohort of overseas workers to service a sector which, ultimately, is having such a deleterious environmental impact. With the current disastrous state of so many South American countries one can hardly blame people for trying to escape poverty, political instability, endemic corruption and exploitation to live and work elsewhere. Sadly, though, they often find themselves little or no better off, and thousands of miles from home and family to boot. The biggest villain of the piece, though, is undoubtedly global capitalism.
It's the economy, stupid - or, rather, it's the stupid economy.