The conflict over Aena's ground assistance (handling) contest drops in decibels. UGT has called off the strike that it had scheduled at the airports between December 5 and 10, right on the Constitution Bridge, to protest against the labor "insecurity" that, in its opinion, has generated the new award of the service, which leaves Iberia outside El Prat and seven other airports.
The suspension comes after the handling services association (Aseata) and UGT met this Wednesday before the Interconfederal Mediation and Arbitration Service (SIMA) to negotiate. The parties have finally reached an agreement, so the strike is suspended.
Some 60,000 workers were called to strike next week, on a date of high activity at the airports, so any disruption would have generated problems for a large number of passengers. From Aena they have celebrated "the agreement reached by the employers' association represented by Aseata and UGT."
The war in the handling sector has exploded as a result of Aena's latest competition to renew the winning companies in its airports, the result of which was announced in September and with a business volume of 5,000 million euros in seven years.
The airport manager announced the result of the competition for assigning licenses for ground handling at the end of September and one of the biggest losers was Iberia. The IAG airline was outside the large airports except Barajas to provide this service, which includes baggage management or passenger transfer. On the other hand, Aviapartner (Belgium) or Menzies (Scotland) have won some of the main licenses.
The workers fear that their working conditions will not be respected when they are subrogated to the new contractors, while Iberia has gone into direct collision with Aena. The IAG airline has appealed the result of the tender to the Central Administrative Court of Contractual Resources, which has suspended the award until it resolves the process.
