The strike by ground staff at Spain’s second busiest airport continues to cause 10 to 14 flight cancellations a day as well as luggage problems for travellers, with no evidence that the stoppage will stop any time soon.
Strike action by ground handlers at Barcelona’s El-Prat Airport has now been going on for a month, with the company and union representatives still unable to resolve the dispute.
After weeks of cancellations, delays and luggage problems, the ground handling company Groundforce’s strike committee is maintaining the strike call and insists it still has employee backing, although it also claims that disciplinary action and intimidation have taken place during the dispute.
The strike continues to cause between 10 and 14 flight cancellations a day across the airlines served by Groundforce, according to figures provided to La Vanguardia by workers’ representatives.
Among the airlines most affected are Lufthansa, KLM and Air France.
There are also around a thousand pieces of luggage, which peaked at 6,000, still awaiting processing and piling up in airport warehouse backlogs.
More than 1,100 Groundforce workers are taking part in the strike, who are in charge of checking-in passengers, boarding, ground handling and flight coordination at Terminals T1 and T2.
Spokesperson Esther García denounced Groundforce’s lack of willingness to negotiate.
Groundforce “doesn’t want to negotiate,” García said, explaining that at the July meeting, the representatives of the ground handling company “got up and left”.
Groundforce workers at Spain’s second busiest airport cite poor working conditions, physical fatigue, stress, unpaid overtime and insufficient rest periods as the reasons for holding the strike.
They are demanding a health review and risk prevention for those working outdoors in extreme temperatures, mental health and stress checks due to tensions faced during check-in procedures, as well as more shifts and breaks to achieve a better work-life balance.
Flight compensation company Airhelp said that some passengers have waited up to five hours to collect their luggage from the airport.
Flights linking Barcelona with German cities operated by Lufthansa are some of the most affected, along with those linking the Catalan capital with Madrid and Palma de Mallorca, operated by Air Europa.
Flights between Barcelona and Rome, operated by ITA Airways, have also been affected.
Groundforce staff in Barcelona also work with other airlines including Air France, KLM, Qatar Airways, Turkish Airways, United Airways and Finnair, meaning flights with any of these could be affected.
READ ALSO: Could Europe’s border queues get longer this month as key EES date passes?
