Cliffhanger vote may avert airport strikes

Staff Reporter WORKERS employed by the Spanish Airports Authority are to be ballotted across the country today as to whether or not they wish to proceed with strike action scheduled in March and April. The latest move comes at the end of ongoing threats by airport workers' Unions to go ahead with stoppages planned for tomorrow, March 7, 9 & 12 and 2, 7, and 11 April. The planned strikes are in response to Spanish Airports Authority (AENA) projects to privatise many of the services that are currently undertaken by their own staff. Should the company succeed in implementing this strategy, there could be 800 job losses in the Balearics alone. The news of a breakthrough in talks with management followed preliminary preparations for minimum staffing under strike conditions at Palma's Son Sant Joan airport earlier yesterday. In the event of a stoppage going ahead, a minimum of 27 airport workers will provide a limited service this coming Friday. The Workers Assembly, detailing arrangements to cover minimum working and safety requirements, confirmed yesterday that if the strike proceeds, it will begin at 7am. Ignacio Knörr, Workers Commission representative on AENA's Works Committee at Palma airport, explained that there will only be one runway operating with the mandatory number of 10 firemen on duty. Other minimum services will include 5 people in Operations, one person in Flight Plan, three supervising airport electricity installations, three in passenger direction and a caretaker. Working to rule and strike action is the option open to workers to protest about management plans to make the current workforce redundant and bring in private companies. Knörr condemned the attitude of company management, which is asking the workers “one by one” if they will support strike action. In spite of these pressures, the Unions are hoping for a massive show of support from employees should industrial work to rule go ahead. The Spanish Airports Authority Strikes Committee had called for massed gatherings at airports across the country to allow workers to decide if they wanted to call off the strikes planned in March and April; such gatherings will now have to decide today on the outcome of yesterday evening's breakthrough talks with management. The Airport Authority workers' Union representatives have reiterated that the strike was to be “the most effective ever” since it was to give the company no chance at all to present “excuses” when the time came for them to withdraw their job-cutting proposals. Furthermore, strike organisers had not intended to set up any “picket” lines because the cause of the workers is clear to everyone through “force of reason” as opposed to being a “reason for force”.