Mediaboss Marketing

By Mail Foreign Service

PUBLISHED: 19:55 EST, 25 June 2012 | UPDATED: 01:31 EST, 26 June 2012

British tourists planning a relaxing trip to the Balearics this summer face having their holidays ruined by a series of strikes.

The 4,000 coach drivers who shuttle holidaymakers between the airports and their hotels in Majorca, Ibiza, Menorca and Formentera yesterday said they would start a series of strikes on July 20 unless they get a pay rise and overtime backdated to January 1 last year.

The drivers, whose wages were frozen in 2010, have picked the date to coincide with a strike by the Balearic Islands hotel and catering sector. July 20 is a Friday, one of the big turnaround days for tour operators.

Worrying: British tourists planning a relaxing trip to the Balearics this summer face having their holidays ruined by a series of strikes

An estimated 1.8million Britons are expected to visit the Balearics this summer. But if the strikes go ahead, many will face chaos, with long waits on arrival at airports and hotels offering only the most basic services.

When Spanish unions strike, it is usually for one or two days at a time, three or four times in a month.

The walkout, which is being organised by Spains two most powerful unions, the socialist-led General Workers Union and the largely communist Workers Commissions, has infuriated hoteliers and the islands regional government.

They were hoping a busy season would offset the misery caused by Spains economic crisis.

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Britons face coach summer holiday chaos on Spanish isles after drivers vote to strike over pay