The Spanish Council of Ministers, in an extraordinary meeting this Wednesday, has started the formalities towards a binding decision to resolve the dispute between the workers and management of Eulen, the company in charge of security checks at the airport.
Through the obligatory arbitration, the company and workers will be forced to accept the conditions that an external arbitrator imposes, once all other possible negotiation routes have been exhausted.
24-hour deadline
In a press conference after the meeting, the minister of Public Works and Transport, Íñigo de la Serna, explained that the parties will have a maximum of 24 hours from the notification of the agreement to choose a mediator.
If they don't manage to choose one, the ministry will assign someone within the next 24 hours. That person will ask the parties to formulate their statements and will then make a decision within ten days at the latest.
The Council of Ministers took the decision in an extraordinary meeting held after Sunday's assembly of Eulen's workers rejected the proposed agreement suggested by the Catalan Department of Work, which led to the total indefinite strike starting on Monday.
The minister of Public Works reiterated that this decision was taken after evaluating the legal consequences of starting an binding arbitration process, among which are the duration of the strike and the prolongation of the conflict, the irreconcilable positions of the parties and taken with the "most scrupulous respect of the right to strike".
Moreover, de la Serna said that the Spanish Government has entered “strongly and firmly” into the dispute at the airport, since it is a situation that “is generating an serious problem for the citizens and the country”, only to add that currently “one can speak of absolute normality at the airport”.
Quiet day at the airport
In parallel with the beginnings of the decision process, the third day of the indefinite strike at Barcelona airport has passed without notable queues or crowds to get through the security checks beyond those expected of a August day August with 499 departures scheduled. According to Aena, the public airport operator, this Wednesday neither of the two terminals has seen significant queues.