Passengers flying to Spain with Ryanair over the next few months may face disruptions as ground handling staff go on strike for weeks. The strike began on Friday, February 15, and will last until December, taking place every Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday until the end of the year. Strike action will be done in time slots, firstly between 5am and 9am, then 12pm to 3pm and 9pm to 11.59pm.
This makes the August Bank Holiday among the dates affected, which is when many Brits might head abroad for a last bit of family fun in the sun before children return to school. The strike involves more than 3,000 workers at Azul Handling, which is part of the Ryanair group. It comes after a decision by the General Union of Workers (UGT). Azul Handling provides full baggage handling services to the Ryanair group, which includes other airlines like Lauda Europe, Malta Air and Buzz, which operate out of several Spanish airports.
Spain’s airport group, Aena, has asked passengers to contact their airline to check the status of their flights as they warn of disruptions. The Spanish airports affected are:
- Alicante
- Barcelona
- Girona
- Ibiza
- Lanzarote
- Madrid
- Málaga
- Palma de Mallorca
- Santiago de Compostela
- Sevilla
- Tenerife South
- Valencia
A Ryanair press officer told the Daily Express: “We continue to operate a full schedule to/from Spain, and do not expect any disruption to our operations as a result of this third-party industrial action.”
Baggage handlers are striking for a number of reasons, including what they call “the abuse of overtime”. The union is calling for guaranteed hours for part-time staff, an end to the pressure to take on extra hours, fair treatment over work-life balance and medical leave, and compliance with sector agreements on pay and allowances.
José Manuel Pérez Grande, federal secretary of the FeSMC-UGT Air Union, accused Azul Handling of maintaining “a strategy of precariousness and pressure on the workforce that violates basic labour rights and systematically ignores union demands”.
A statement shared by Ryanair reads: “Due to Spain’s minimum service legislation during peak summer months, we do not expect any disruption to our operation as a result of these strikes (by the UGT union who represent less than 20% of Azul staff) in our third-party handler in Spain.”
