The Friday strike at the three Balearic airports by handling workers employed by Azul Handling had minimal impact. Any delays were not out of keeping with a long holiday weekend in mid-August.
The organising union, the UGT, attributed the lack of impact to personnel reinforcement by the company for the three periods of strike action. "To no one's surprise, Azul Handling continue to disregard the labour rights of the workforce and ignore the law's provisions regarding the constitutional right of workers to strike." According to the union, shifts on Friday were rearranged "with only two or three hours' notice". This, adds the union, "is totally prohibited".
The UGT has also denounced the fact that all flights during the three periods are "protected" and with no distinction having been made between essential and non-essential connections. This, the union says, is in order to maximise options in accordance with the transport ministry's minimum service levels. It claims that members of the strike committee have been denied access to workplaces and that the committee has not been informed of the reinforcements.
"The company is breaking the law and is acting deliberately to neutralise the strike and intimidate the workforce. Someone in the public authorities should take the necessary measures to prevent companies of this type from flouting current legislation."
Another contributory factor is that the UGT is not the majority union. The CCOO is, and it has not supported the strike.
The time periods referred to are 5am to 9am, 12 noon to 3pm, and 9pm to midnight. These will be the same on Saturday and Sunday, when handling workers employed by Menzies are scheduled to stage 24-hour strikes. Azul Handling provides services to Ryanair. Menzies works with a number of airlines, e.g. easyJet.