Protest strike call

SOME 4'000 businesses on Majorca who are members of the Federation of Tourist Business, Leisure and Restaurant Services Associations (FECOTUR) will today discuss at a meeting whether they will call a weeks strike in protest at the Antitobacco law which prohibits the sale of cigarettes in their establishments. The spokesman for FECOTUR, Jose Tirado, said the legislation was “discriminatory” taking into account Article 14 of the Constitution about the equality of citizens, given that the Antitobacco law allows the sale of tobacco in duty free shops and in the Canaries. He commented that the ban on the sale of tobacco could lose their members up to 50 percent of their sales, as clients come into these establishments to buy cigarettes and end up buying other things as well. Representatives of the Newsagents Associations on the Peninsula yesterday met the national Minister of Health and Consumer Affairs, Elena Salgado, to express their complaints. According to Tirado if the national Government “won't move an inch”, these establishments could strike, a move that the distilleries, self-service restaurants, supermarkets, petrol stations and kiosks affiliated to FECOTUR are considering seconding.