Unions withdraw threat to shut down nation’s airports

Seeking a last-minute deal to avoid an Easter travel nightmare, the government’s state-owned airport operator AENA and union representatives headed off a nationwide shutdown of air facilities Wednesday when they reached an agreement over jobs.

The accord was hammered out after Public Works Minister José Blanco agreed to keep intact the collective bargaining agreements until 2018. This will guarantee employees’ current work conditions until then, even if services at Spain’s airports are contracted out as the government proposes in its drive to reduce state spending, an AENA source said. Unions had threatened to shut down air facilities for 22 crucial high-travel days during Easter and throughout summer. Analysts warned that such a drastic move would further hurt Spain’s lethargic economy.

Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero told lawmakers in Congress that the agreement “guarantees complete normal operations in airports” and the “mobility of citizens and visitors during significant dates.”

“It is a good agreement that shows with dialogue you can reach things and I am very grateful to the unions who have shown good faith to sit down and discuss how to protect the rights of workers,” Blanco said.

The government and the CCOO, UGT and USO unions spent nearly 17 hours at the negotiation table before an agreement was reached in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

In an effort to prevent massive cancellations in travel plans, tourism and Public Works officials began transmitting messages to tour operators and governments abroad that the strike in Spain has been headed off.

“The strike would have been very damaging for the Spanish tourism industry because the dates proposed were so important. A strike could have ended up hurting GDP,” Juan José Fernández, a Link Securities analyst in Madrid, told Bloomberg.

via AENA accord staves off air-travel nightmare · ELPAÍS.com in English.

AENA calls series of airport strikes to protest privatization

Three months after a wildcat strike launched by air traffic controllers brought Spain’s airspace to a standstill- and led the government to declare a state of alert- the country’s main labor unions on Tuesday informed the Labor Ministry that a further 22 days of inaction have been slated in protest at the planned part-privatization of the airport services provider AENA.

The dates on which the strikes are mooted have been planned to cause maximum disruption: the first series of strikes would fall on Easter week and public holidays in May. The full timetable of proposed stoppages is April 20, 21, 24, 25 and 30; May 2, 14, 15, 19 and 20; June 13, 23 and 30; July 1, 2, 3, 4, 15 and 31 and August 1, 15 and 31. All are strategic dates during the country’s busiest holiday periods.

The government has not made great strides to appease the unions, which have demanded the government backtrack on plans to sell 49 percent of AENA and to privatize the running of Spain’s two largest airports, Madrid Barajas and El Prat in Barcelona. In a joint communiqué, the unions accused the Public Works Ministry of lying in its assertion that the two parties are engaged in talks and that there is no labor conflict within AENA: “The arrogance of the ministry makes it incapable of seeking solutions to the problems in air transport,” the statement read.

The strike plan was forged during a protest march in February after the government refused to back down. On learning of its formalization, Public Works Minister José Blanco spoke of his confidence that an agreement to avoid strike action would be reached. A meeting between the ministry and unions has been scheduled for Thursday.

via AENA calls series of airport strikes to protest privatization · ELPAÍS.com in English.