Iberia’s ground staff threaten to strike on days around New Year's Eve

Follow this development of events if you’re planning to travel to, from and within Spain by air at the turn of the year

Trade unions representing ground service employees of Iberia announced that they are considering implementing a strike at Spanish airports over the following dates: 29 December to 1 January and 4-7 January. However, the official documentation to state this has not yet been filed, which means for the moment it can just be considered a possible pressure tactic to move negotiations forward.

Baggage handlers and ground service workers are protesting against contracts with new service providers, which Aena, the airport operator in Spain, has signed up in September in a bid to sideline the Iberia workers and their work benefits. At least, that’s how the trade unions see it, even though Aena claims that the new service providers have committed to retaining both the workers and their benefits.

Prolonged labour dispute saga at Spanish airports

Spanish airports have been under the impact of what has turned out to be durable and hard-to-resolve labour disputes in recent times.

In fact, the threat of a possible strike in the days surrounding New Year’s Eve when many people are travelling to spend the holidays with families or simply in another place follows up on an earlier strike, which was supposed to take place on 5 and 10 December but was ultimately called off for the sake of negotiations.

Iberia, contesting these new contracts in administrative courts, condemned the strike as “irresponsible” and lacking in rationale. “A strike, like the one the unions called for Christmas, irremediably undermines the right to vacation and reunion with families and friends,” Iberia said in a statement, according to Aviation24.be.