Swissport and its workers at the Guacimeta airport have still not reached an agreement, and the indefinite strike at the Lanzarote airport continues. The Works Council and the company met to negotiate this Saturday, but the Committee claims that the company "does not listen to reason." After that meeting, the workers' assembly met this Monday and decided that the company's offer is "insufficient." Thus, the CC.OO. and USO unions will now go to the Canary Islands Labor Court, and later, the assembly will meet again this Wednesday. That assembly will decide on the "future of the strike" based on what "is clarified" in the court. Meanwhile, the strikes will continue. In this sense, the Committee points out that in recent days, there have continued to be delays and suitcases left "on the ground" due to the strike.
One of the representatives of the Works Council, Lorenzo Montelongo, explained to La Voz minutes before that assembly was held that there was "little chance" that the workers would decide to end the strike. And this worker emphasizes that "everyone" in the company is "affected" by the issues they are claiming. "From the kid who started 3 days ago to the last one who has been there for 30 years, they are affected in one way or another."
Montelongo explained that this Saturday the negotiation finally "broke down" and "there was no agreement." According to him, with "almost all the points" out of the total of 13 that were discussed, the company assured them that it "could" agree, but "later on."
"They don't guarantee that they will pay us what they owe us"
Among the points that least convinced the Committee, according to Montelongo, is the salary issue. With the subrogation of these workers when the service was liberalized and Swissport took over the handling of the airport, there was "a decrease in the payroll that is very important for many of us," says this union representative. According to him, in some cases the "loss" that the workers have suffered in the payroll reaches 400 euros and the company "does not guarantee" that it will pay them "what they owe us."
"They said they would commit to explaining how that salary mass worked, where each concept was and so on, but they never told us that they were going to pay us what they owe us," this worker emphasizes. "I used to earn X and now I don't earn half X, so where is the rest?" asks this representative of the Works Council. "These are things that are in the agreement, you don't need to sign them in an agreement, if I go to court they have to fix that yes or yes because it is a breach of the agreement," he defends.
Another point of friction is the temporary hiring. The Works Council considers that the "workload" of the Lanzarote airport is sufficient for 20 workers to become permanent. The company, however, offered the permanent hiring of 9 employees "with names and surnames." The committee considered that number insufficient and asked to increase it and, in addition, that the figure agreed upon be "without names."
While these negotiations are taking place, the strike that began on the 22nd is causing daily delays in some of the flights operated by Swissport in Guacimeta. According to Montelongo, there are frequent delays of between 15 minutes and an hour, and even on Saturday suitcases were left "on the ground." "Within the day from 7 in the morning to 11 at night, all flights have left for their destination, but many of them delayed," said Lorenzo Montelongo, who says that on Saturday "the suitcases of 2 planes, about 300, were left behind." To these must be added the 800 suitcases that also did not leave for their destinations last Thursday. "The strike is affecting them as much as us. We don't want this to continue, we want to fix it, but if they don't want to..." concludes this union representative.
