Costa News Spain Breaking News | English News in Spain.
The latest wave of airport strike action is expected to disrupt the major Spanish holiday destinations in August. It will affect thousands of Brits, North Europeans and others who have booked holidays in Spain.
The strike will affect five major Spanish airports, where ground handling employees plan to walk out strategically timed with the busiest travel weekend of the year.
Alicante Elche Palma de Mallorca Tenerife Sud, Malaga Costa del Sol and Barcelona El Prat will all be affected by the workers’ protests over what they describe as serious violations of labour agreements.
The three weekends following the first weekend of travel can be chaotic for those travelling with easyJet and Emirates, British Airways or Wizz Air, American Airlines or British Airways to these destinations.
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The strike dates for the targeted strikes are Saturday 16th and Sunday 17th August, Saturday 23rd and Sunday 24th August, and on Saturday 30th and Sunday 31st August.
Prepare yourself for long queues and extended wait times for luggage. There may also be flight delays due to a skeleton staff trying to maintain services.
It is a bad time to travel for many holidaymakers. These weekends are some of the most popular travel times as families scramble to get in their summer holidays before the new school year begins.
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Behind the industrial actions is a long list of grievances of hundreds of workers.
UGT, the union representing ground service workers, accuses Menzies, a company that provides essential services to airports, of making repeated mistakes in pay slips, not honouring agreed salary advancements, and exploiting its employees through split-shift patterns.
Workers are also subjected to unfair rotation of rest days, the arbitrary impositions of holiday dates and chronic understaffing, which leaves teams struggling with operational demands.
The strikers will be targeting the airport’s backbone, which includes passenger check-in, luggage handling and assistance to aircraft on the runway.
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Airlines have advised passengers to check their flight status before they arrive at airports. They may also offer rebooking or alternative arrangements in the event of a disruption.
This latest dispute is a further turbulence in the aviation sector of Spain.
The country is also dealing with a separate strike by Ryanair baggage handlers. This dispute will continue until 2025. It has created a perfect storm for travel disruptions during the critical tourist season.
UGT warned that if the union’s demands were not met the conflict would escalate, threatening further disruption after August.
Travel News by The Olive Press.
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