The first week of Groundforce's indefinite strike has left more than 2,000 pieces of luggage on the ground at Barcelona El Prat airport, in the midst of travelers departing for the Easter holidays. The protest has also caused queues at the check-in counters of Terminal 1, where this ground handling company operates for airlines such as Lufthansa, Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways.
The strikes are called for Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays in three time slots. They are distributed between 5:00 and 7:00 hours, between 11:00 and 17:00 hours, and between 22:00 and 0:00 hours. The fixed minimum services are set between 79% and 81%, a percentage that the unions consider excessive.
Incident in full Holy Week operation
The coincidence of the strike with one of the periods of greatest movement at the airport has aggravated the impact for passengers. In Terminal 1, waits have been repeated at check-in points and the main visible consequence has been the accumulation of suitcases that have not been able to depart normally.
Aena recommends travelers contact their airlines to check the status of affected flights and learn about possible operational incidents.
The unions denounce an abuse of the minimums
The conveners maintain that the follow-up of the protest is being very high and maintain that the conflict remains open for the same reasons that motivated the start of the strike. Among their demands they place the fulfillment of what was agreed in the collective agreement, with special attention to the recovery of purchasing power.
"We reject these actions which in no case contribute to resolving the conflict" - strike committee, convening unions
The union organizations have also expressed their absolute support for the workers affected by the imposition of sanctions during the strike. In their opinion, these measures represent an element of pressure that the strike committee does not accept.
Concentrations foreseen next week
The unions have announced protests in different workplaces for next week. The intention is to raise the tone of the demands in a labor conflict that, as of today, continues without an agreed solution and maintains pressure on El Prat's operations on dates of maximum influx.