The Aena airports authority and security company Trablisa are facing criticism following the death of airport worker Herminia Beatriz. The 64-year-old died of complications following an operation for a fractured femur, which had resulted from an incident in which she was pushed by a tourist and fell.
A union representative has pointed out that Herminia was not a security worker at Son Sant Joan Airport; she was a services auxiliary. There have been complaints for some years that Aena and Trablisa have been seeking to save money by using this type of worker to cover for that of security guards. The national government delegation and the National Police's department for private security should have stepped in. "Will they now act or let things carry on as they have been?"
Ramón Domingo, who has worked as a security guard at the airport for eighteen years, says that Herminia was 64 and had a heart condition and yet on occasion worked up to sixteen hours, including night shift, at a "troublespot" in Terminal C.
The FTSP-USO union explains that services auxiliaries should only be carrying out functions such as providing information and guiding passengers. It is not their job to be controlling access or prohibiting passage, which is essentially what happened when Herminia tried to prevent the German tourist from re-entering the baggage reclaim area after he had left it in order to have a smoke.
There is particular annoyance at the fact Trablisa (Visabren), the company for which Herminia worked, is considering a private prosecution of the tourist, when - it is said - it was the company which could have avoided "the tragedy".