Comisiones Obreras (CCOO), one of the convening unions, has reported that the strike of Swissport workers that is taking place every Monday, Tuesday and Thursday at Lanzarote airport will continue until April 13, due to the "blockage of the negotiation of the company agreement." The unions point to the salary freeze since 2019 as the main reason for the strike.
In addition to César Manrique, where Swissport workers are responsible for passenger services, ramp assistance and air cargo, the strike affects the airports of Madrid-Barajas, Barcelona-El Prat, Reus, Alicante, Valencia, Murcia, Málaga, Almería, Salamanca, Valladolid, Burgos, Logroño, Zaragoza, Huesca, Lanzarote, Gran Canaria and Tenerife South.
The Swiss company is not offering follow-up data and is limited to repeating that "It remains fully committed to reaching an agreement with the representatives of the unions and our employees that is acceptable to our colleagues, while preserving the stability of the company and offering attractive jobs in the Spanish aviation sector."
Vanesa Frahija, general secretary of CCOO in Lanzarote, explained that "the company wants to include a salary increase through the 'ad personam supplements' to which not all the staff agrees and, on the other hand, they are not compensable, or absorbable, or, of course, revisable." Frahija points out that "CCOO flatly refuses to accept this proposal, with the consensus of the other union forces."
The CCOO Directorate in Lanzarote considers that "with a Sector Agreement in force whose salaries are well above those paid by Swissport Handling to its employees, the company is incurring in illegality, because the regulations establish that, due to applicative priority, the payrolls must be equated to the tables established in the sectoral agreement, a worker within a group cannot receive amounts below what is established in the Sectoral Agreement."
From CCOO it is expected that "the leaders of Swissport Handling will come to their senses and not turn a deaf ear to the just demands of their staff and that a negotiation will be re-established that will lead to a salary increase for all workers" in accordance with what is established in the Handling Sector Agreement.
