Airport worker strikes in Spain and the Canary Islands threaten Christmas holidays

Travellers from the UK planning to go to Spain, including the Canary Islands, at the end of this month may not be able to do so as some airport workers have announced that they intend to strike over Christmas and New Year. The CCOO union announced yesterday (Tuesday), that all workers at Spanish airport operator AENA are planning to walk out over pay disputes.

However, according to Reuters, other unions in Spain, including the UGT and USO, have said that their members will not strike. Moreover, the same source revealed that an AENA spokesperson said that the company controlled by the government will continue negotiating with CCO and will attempt to reach an agreement by next week to avoid disruption.

According to the CCOO, affiliated workers plan to strike on December 22nd, 23rd, 30th, and 31st. In addition, they also plan to strike on January 5th and January 6th. Commenting on the matter, the union said that the strike will last this long as it takes for AENA to resume the bonus for workers that it suspended during the pandemic.

“During the pandemic, we have not requested the payment of the bonus as an important gesture of responsibility,” stated the CCOO. They also added that the traffic numbers through airports are now back to pre-pandemic levels, suggesting that the policy should also change as things have returned to normality.

The number of travellers reaching Spain has significantly increased this year, with almost 7.2 million international passengers in October of this year. According to the Ministry of Tourism, this represented 94.6%  of those who travelled to Spain during the same month of 2019, highlighting that the country is on its way to full recovery.

They also revealed that in the first ten months of this year, around 63.1 million tourists have visited Spain, representing 84.6% of the figures registered during the same period in 2019.