Indefinite travel has been called in a bitter dispute at 12 airports for three days a week
An update has been issued on ‘indefinite’ strikes at 12 Spanish airports as union officials say ‘thousands of suitcases’ have been left unattended. The indefinite departure by Groundforce saw more than 40 planes depart without baggage, congestion at baggage handling areas, and suitcases that may have been sent without label checks to “speed things up,” the CCOO said.
Among those incidents, according to the UGT organization, that occur at the airport are widespread one-hour flight delays, flights left unattended and essential services “burdened”, flight cancellations, thousands of suitcases left unattended or delivered late, flight sorting on the apron, last-minute changes in flight schedules, increased workload and reporting when the job.
The UGT union reports that, after the first two days of the strike, “it is clear that the situation of Groundforce is serious in terms of operations and labor relations”, since the company is operating “unlimited” and “crossing lines that will have to be checked through established legal channels”.
The strike, which started last Monday, is scheduled to take place on Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 12 airports in Spain – Barcelona, Madrid, Palma, Málaga, Alicante, Gran Canaria, Ibiza, Valencia, Lanzarote, Bilbao, Fuerteventura and Zaragoza – for an indefinite period and in three periods: between 5pm and 5pm.
The operator of the Spanish airport Aena said in the announcement of X: “An indefinite strike called by the workers of Groundforce, a company that provides services to different airlines, starting on Monday, March 30. A partial stoppage has been called on Monday, Wednesday and Friday during three periods: 5-7am, 11am-5pm, and 10pm-midnight.
If you plan to fly, check to see if your airport is affected. Contact your airline to find out the status of your flight.
The association criticizes the ‘particularly serious’ workplace, where the described as ‘very serious’ penalties are imposed on striking workers, the complaints lodged with the Labor Inspectorate about the alleged hypocrisy during the strike, and the mobilization of the Guardia Civil to prevent this situation. UGT said this was ‘a case of irresponsible management on the part of the company’, which ‘appears to have no regard for its employees, its customers and the thousands of affected passengers’.
“The current situation shows a complete deterioration of labor relations and an unusual deterioration of the internal climate,” the organization highlights in a press release where it also reiterates its determination to ‘participate in real discussions’.
Meanwhile, ground handling firm Menzies Aviation has suspended a planned strike at several airports in the Canary Islands after reaching an agreement with the UGT union in consultation with SIMA, the Majorca Daily Bulletin reports.
However it added that discussions about a temporary layoff plan at Menzies in Gran Canaria are still unresolved. The agreement follows weeks of tension across the airline sector and includes a commitment to improve both working conditions and pay for redeployed workers, one of the main sources of contention.
The agreement allows planned airport visits this week, where the company works to be suspended, after Menzies accepted several key demands of the union. The website reported that the UGT, the Spanish airport union for Groundforce ground workers alongside the USO and CCOO, said the industrial action was causing “chaos”, with “delays of more than an hour, canceled flights and thousands of abandoned suitcases”.
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