60,000 airport workers to strike this month – are your flights affected?

SPAIN holidaymakers are set to be hit by strikes as approximately 60,000 airport workers across the country prepare to down tools on 15 October in a disagreement over pay and conditions.

Spain travel could be seriously disrupted this month as 60,000 airport workers across the country prepare to go on strike over pay and conditions.

The walkout will affect holidaymakers in major tourist destinations such as Tenerife, Malaga and Gran Canaria.

It will go ahead unless an agreement is settled tomorrow when the unions meet with their employers for talks.

The industrial action comes as Britons begin seeking winter sun in the south of Spain and the Canary Islands while UK temperatures fall.

If it goes ahead, the strike will affect all airlines that operate in Spanish airports.

Three unions – USO Aéreo, CCOO and UGT – gave notice of industrial actions yesterday.

They claim to have been involved in talks for three years, with no signs of ASEATA, the Association of Airport Ground Support Services Companies, making any improvement.

USO Aéreo released a statement today warning of the strike action as they dispute salary.

”After almost three years of negotiations to agree the IV Collective Agreement of the Ground Support Services Sector, ASEATA employers have continued to show their immobile attitude to try to agree on fundamental aspects that have to do with the system of subrogation, salary and other remuneration variable economic concepts (sic),” said the statement.

Another source of frustration among the workers is some of their work being outsourced.

The unions said in a statement: “We cannot allow more companies to continue operating in our labour market with wild deals, using precarious contracts and workers’ salaries.”

Last week strike action disrupted Ryanair passengers as the low-cost airline saw 250 cancellations across Europe after European unions in various countries agreed to strike action.

These latest strikes come after a summer of disruption due to strike action for the airline.

Unions want staff to be given contracts in the countries where they live, rather than under Irish law as they are currently.

Affected countries included Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Belgium.

Yesterday, flights in and out of major Irish airports were temporarily suspended after Irish airspace experienced issues with air traffic.

A radar in the west of Ireland caused the problem, with airport chiefs reporting “zero flow rate” in Irish airspace

Both Shannon and Cork airports suspended all flights until the radar was fully operational, but Dublin was not been affected due to its proximity to UK air traffic control.

An investigation into the incident has now been launched as the cause of the failure is still unknown.

Irish airspace has now fully reopened with both Cork and Shannon services operating as normal.

In other aviation news, passengers of low-cost airline Primera Air were hit hard yesterday as the company went into administration, with thousands of passengers stranded abroad in the US and Europe.

 

Written by BayRadio