British holidaymakers and passengers heading back to the UK this Friday, July 25, which is also the start of a Bank Holiday weekend in Spain, are being urged to take evasive action to get to Palma airport extra early because of threatened industrial action by ground staff. Unions want to bring the airport to a standstill between 8 a.m. and 12 p.m. in protest at the ‘precarious situation suffocating’ the Balearic Islands’ aviation sector.
If airport authority Aena does not meet their demands, and time is running out, the union has warned in a statement that it will ‘raise the tone of the protest’ and take action aimed at ‘paralysing’ Palma’s Son Sant Joan airport. The union has demanded the creation of a tripartite dialogue table, made up of Aena, the regional government and workers’ representatives, to seek consensual and stable solutions to the ‘abuses’ suffered by the workforce.
The UGT union has complained that companies operating at Son Sant Joan do not respect labour rights by organising ‘inhumane’ work shifts that prevent work-life balance or promote basic contracts of less than 30 hours ‘while imposing countless hours of overtime without any control’.
Airline workers represented by the trade union organisation have called on companies to schedule and agree on holiday periods and to make appropriate calculations regarding professional advancement.
They have also requested the hiring of qualified personnel for driving and supervisory tasks in order to avoid overworking other professionals, as well as vehicles and work equipment that prevent exposure to high temperatures.
Other demands made by workers include uniforms that do not ‘undermine their dignity and image’ and the provision of raincoats to protect them from the rain. The UGT has accused Swissport, Grounforce, Menzies, easyJet, Pasarelas, Eruowings, PMR’s, Jet2, Ryanair and South, among others, of ‘exploitation’.
The union has also criticised the ‘endless and painful’ construction work being carried out at the airport, which is ‘damaging’ the health of the workforce and putting their safety at risk. They have also demanded free parking for workers and the opening of a canteen with affordable prices, complaining that companies are ‘ignoring’ the communications from the unions and undermining their ability to represent workers.