Spain is set to be hit by a wave of strikes in August that threatens to bring travel chaos to thousands of holidaying Brits and airline passengers. More than 3.000 baggage handlers will down tools for three days between August 15 and 17, over a row about working conditions.
The strike will be repeated every Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday thereafter until the end of December, should the workers’ demands not be met. The protest involves Ryanair’s subsidiary Azul Handling and is expected to cause severe disruption to the airline’s operations in Valencia, Alicante, Madrid, Barcelona, Seville, Malaga, Ibiza, Palma, Girona, Tenerife South, Lanzarote and Santiago. The strike will take place between 5am and 9am, noon and 3pm and 9pm to 11.59pm, but workers will still have to provide a “minimum service” by law.
Union representatives from UGT say the walk-outs are “against the sanctions imposed on workers and the abuse of hours”.
They cited a lack of stable job creation, restrictions on medical leave and the consolidation of part-time staff’s working hours as reasons for the walk-out. The FeSMC-UGT airline sector is requesting mediation before the Interconfederal Mediation and Arbitration Service (SIMA).
“UGT regrets having to go to these extremes and all the damages that may occur, for which the direct responsibility will be solely and exclusively the company and its reckless action with the workforce,” a statement from the union said.
Jose Manuel Perez Grande, Federal Secretary of the FeSMC-UGT Air Union, claimed Azul Handling maintains “a strategy of precariousness and pressure on the workforce that violates basic labour rights and systematically ignores union demands.”
The FeSMC-UGT Air Sector is now demanding that the company withdraw the sanctions, comply with the opinions of the Joint Commission and immediately open a real negotiation process.
This would improve the working conditions of the more than 3,000 workers affected.
A number of baggage handlers also went on strike at several Spanish airports for the same reasons last year.
Ryanair tried to reassure passengers that there will be no disruption to their flights during the busy holiday period.
A spokesperson for the company told The Sun: “Ryanair does not expect any disruption to our operation as a result of these third-party handling strikes in Spain.”