The Swissport Works Council and the company will try again to reach an agreement to end the strike that the handling workers are carrying out at the Guacimeta airport since August 22. After two frustrated negotiations, the last one before the Canary Islands Labor Court, now it will be the Minister of Tourism of the Cabildo, Echedey Eugenio, and the Director of Labor of the Government of the Canary Islands, Ana Isabel Fernández Manchado, who will act as mediators in a new meeting, which has been set for this Friday.
As Lorenzo Montelongo, who is part of that Works Council, explained on Radio Lanzarote-Onda Cero, the island's Minister of Tourism met with representatives of Swissport this Monday. Afterwards, he told them that a meeting would be held to "bring" the parties "into contact" and that he had "invited" the regional Director of Labor. Already last week, two members of the Works Council met with Eugenio and he conveyed to them his intention to try to get both parties to "bridge positions".
And, although there have already been two attempts, that rapprochement has not occurred in the negotiations. "With respect to the last meeting, little has changed," Montelongo said in this regard. In that last meeting, the company withdrew the offer it had made in the previous meeting, so the workers considered the negotiation closed. Looking ahead to this Friday, "apparently there is a possible draft" to reach some understanding, Montelongo pointed out, noting, however, that they will have to wait until Friday to know the details of the proposal.
Meanwhile, los workers continue "in the fight" and this representative of the Committee has warned that they will not consider calling off that indefinite strike until there is a "viable" agreement". On the other hand, Montelongo has also pointed out that the Labor Inspectorate was going to meet with representatives of Swissport this Wednesday, following the complaint made by the Works Council about the latest hirings. The workers' representatives consider those contracts to be "illegal", as they believe they would be "in fraud of law", as they were formalized when the employees had already given notice that they would go on strike. The Inspectorate, according to Montelongo, is "investigating it".
"They try to camouflage it, but it is affecting them"
Regarding the effects of the strike, this representative of the workers has stressed that there are delays of up to an hour. "Until two or three planes are left on the ground, it seems that there is no strike here, that is what the company says, that it is not affecting," he said, stating that Swissport "hides" and "camouflages" those delays. "He says it's not affecting them, but it's a lie," he adds.
In this sense, Montelongo has referred to guides who have told them that they have to wait for "an hour or an hour and a half" for their clients because passengers take that long to recover their luggage or to "annoyed" tour operators because "they have a time in which they check in and their clients leave and now they are taking up to an hour longer." According to him, in Madrid, "the airline sector", the companies have "contacted Swissport's Human Resources" to ask about that strike.
