A meeting for mediation between ground staff from Iberia and company representatives this Tuesday at the Catalan labour ministry has ended without agreement. As such, they will go ahead with their strike at Barcelona-El Prat Airport over the next two weekends, 24th and 25th, and 30th and 31st August.
Spokesperson for union UGT on the Iberia works council, Omar Minguillón, expressed regret at the companies "anti-dialogue and severe" position, saying that Barcelona airport "has been abandoned by the company". The council says that Iberia claims its requests cannot be negotiated on in Barcelona, that "they have to be met in the centre of the state". "The airport needs its workers in Barcelona, not in Madrid debating with the rest of the state," said Minguillón. The labour department has called a new meeting between the parties for Thursday.
Photo: ACN
The council's requests touch on low staff numbers, lack of stability when it comes to staff, an excess of work, the abuse of required overtime and difficulties making the current shifts work with family life. Iberia ground staff handle baggage for 27 companies at the airport. They already went on strike on 27th and 28th July this year.
For there to be an agreement on Thursday, the council says that Iberia will have to bring "numbers and dates" for changes to contracts at Barcelona, which is "where the work is needed".
Minimum services
The strike committee has announced that it will hold assemblies this Wednesday and Friday for different shifts to press on staff the importance of complying with the decreed minimum services, which some staff find "abusive". "We don't want Barcelona airport to be in chaos, although we understand that workers are fed up of waiting and not meeting with dialogue on the part of the company," they say.