Spanish work unions on Friday suspended the first days of two airport ground staff stoppages scheduled for this weekend, but other strike days are still expected to go ahead throughout the busy Easter period.
Unions have suspended the first days of the planned strikes by airport handling workers at Groundforce and Menzies which were due to take place over this weekend (March 27th to 29th).
Staff from Groundforce, a company with contracts at 12 Spanish airports, were due to begin their indefinite strike starting today, Friday March 27th.
Menzies – which provides ground handling services at airports in Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca, Málaga, Alicante, Gran Canaria, Tenerife South and Tenerife North – had scheduled stoppages for Saturday March 28th and Sunday March 29th.
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However, staff at both companies are still planning to strike on the other scheduled dates.
Therefore, Groundforce’s staff plan to begin their airport strike from Monday March 30th onwards. Unless a deal is reached, these stoppages will be held indefinitely on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays during three time slots from 5am-7am, 11am-5pm and from 10pm-midnight.
Menzies workers have scheduled 24-hour stoppages on April 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th, coinciding with the busy Easter period.
It is unclear why UGT and other trade union representatives have decided to postpone the two airport strikes.
Both ground handling strikes were called due to wage disagreements, centred on the application of pay scales and the inflation-linked adjustments to guarantee workers’ purchasing power, as stipulated in their collective bargaining agreement.
Passengers flying out Spanish airports on the remaining strike days have been warned to expect longer queues at check-in desks and security control, potential delays in baggage handling, and a slower boarding process overall.
Even if flights depart as scheduled, limited ground staff availability can lengthen waiting times, causing delays for the following flights as well.
If you are going to fly on any of the listed strike days from airports in Spain, the general advise is that you check your flight status regularly and arrive at the airport earlier than usual, especially for international flights.
Airport authorities also advise that you factor in extra time for connecting flights and if possible travel with only hand luggage rather than checked-in bags too, in order to avoid baggage delays.
Those departing from airports such as Alicante, Barcelona, Málaga, Madrid and Palma de Mallorca should leave even more time than expected as these airports typically experience the highest passenger volume over Easter in Spain.