The air traffic controllers strike starts today at several Spanish airports including Ibiza airport. The strike starts today as planned and will probably continue every Monday until the end of February, according to Comisiones Obreras. However, this morning the Ibiza airport is operating normally and the strike call has had no impact on scheduled flight operations.

The union has described the meeting it had with the worker’s and control towers service supplier’s (formed by FerroNats and Saerco) legal representation as “unsuccessful”.

At the meeting held on Thursday, Saerco put a proposal on the table a proposal for a CPI increase for 2021 (0%), 2022 (1%), 2023 (2%) y 2024 (2.5%) that does not meet workers’ expectations “by falling far short” of their demand, in the words of the union.

Saerco assures that an increase in the wage base of more than 5,5% (total increase offered between 2021 and 2024) “puts the viability of the company at serious risk.”.

For its part, FerroNats, the former supplier company, has distanced itself from Saerco both in this meeting and in previous ones and has “reached out” to try to reach an agreement, since its proposal for the sectoral agreement is very close to the final proposal of the workers’ representatives. However, as the sector’s employers’ organization is made up of 50% of the two companies, it has not been able to find common ground so far.

First day of strike

The strike is scheduled for every Monday in February. In addition to today, the strikes will be carried out on the following Monday 6th, 13th, 20th y 27th of next month in the towers of Ibiza. The es Codolar airport is thus the only one in the Balearic archipelago affected by the stoppage.

In the rest of Spain, the airports of A Coruña, Alicante-Elche, Castelló, Cuatro Vientos, El Hierro, Fuerteventura, Jerez, Lanzarote, La Palma, Lleida, Murcia, Sabadell, Seville, Valencia and Vigo will be affected. In total, 162 workers are called to strike.

As CCOO has reiterated, the objective of this strike is “to support the strengthening of a crucial sector in a country where tourism is one of the pillars of growth, and which has demonstrated a maturity and maintenance of high standards of quality, safety and punctuality”.

For the full article, please visit Diario de Ibiza website here.