CCOO calls to stop 10,000 employees of essential services for airport traffic, in order to recover productivity pay
Air Nostrum pilots are also called to a strike on December 22, 23, 26, 27, 29 and 30 and on January 2 and 3, 2023
Airport network workers Aena are called to strike during the week of Christmas, New Years Eve and the festival of Reyes. CCOO plans to register during this Monday a call for strikes for the days December 22, 23, 30 and 31Besides of January 6 and 8 2023. Some 10,000 employees of the Aena group (Aena, Enaire and Región de Murcia International Airport) are called to support the protests, which if successful would have a serious impact on flight operations throughout Spain.
The reason for calling a strike is the will of the workers to recover their pay for productivity that they stopped charging when the pandemic broke out, since the public-private group then stopped having benefits. Now, that airport traffic has practically recovered pre-COVID levels and the company is once again distributing dividends to its shareholders, the employees are demanding to collect this annual payment again, which represents around 2% of the annual salary of each worker. This year a total of 225.7 million passengers have passed through an airport in the Aena network this year, 110% more than last year although 12% less than on the same dates in 2019.
At the moment the only union that calls for mobilization is the CCOO, which has 42% of the representation in the companies of the Aena group. Union sources point out that the blockage in the collection of this supplement is not in the direction of Aena, but in the Ministry of Finance, which has to authorize the disbursement. These same sources place the total cost of the payment at about eight million euros for the public treasury. “We hope to reach an agreement”, they are optimistic from the union.
The union will register this Monday at the Ministry of Labor the call for a strike, for which the Ministry of Transport will subsequently have to set some minimum services. If an agreement is not reached before, it would not be the only airport strike registered for those same dates. The cabin crew of Vueling, one of the airlines that moves a greater number of passenger operations throughout Spain, has also called strikes on the key dates of the Christmas holidays. To which are added until January strikes called in Ryanairwho have been summoned since the summer.
Pilot strike at Air Nostrum
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Parallel to the labor conflict between AENA employees, air travel during Christmas and the start of 2023 could also be seriously affected by the Air Nostrum pilots strike that the majority union SEPLA has called for the days December 22, 23, 26, 27, 29 and 30 and the days January 2 and 3, 2023.
According to the conveners, the strike is motivated by “the blockade caused by the Company in the negotiation of the new collective agreement, by maintaining an immovable position on fundamental aspects of working conditions and wage claims” of the pilots.