Queues and some delays on the second day of the airport handling strike.
British Airways cancels two flights, and UGT maintains that Ryanair is making "abusive use" of minimum services.
BarcelonaThe second day of the handling staff strike at Spanish airports has been minimally disrupted. The first, which began this Friday only with Ryanair handling staff, Azul Handling, suffered minimal impact. This Saturday, which was expected to be more chaotic due to the addition of a strike by Menzies ground staff at Ryanair, only resulted in some cancellations and delays at El Prat airport for more than ten airlines operating with Menzies, and some delays at Girona and Reus airports.
On the other hand, two other flights scheduled to depart from Barcelona have been canceled, but this time they were operated by Air Canada and are not related to the strike in Spain, but rather to a strike by flight attendants at the Canadian airline, which has forced them to suspend operations globally, the airline reported in a statement.
Union demands
"We are not here for free or voluntarily," denounced Josep Ramírez, head of the UGT airline sector, in statements to the media from Terminal T1, the most affected by Saturday's strikes. "Workers' rights must be respected," he added. The union maintains its demands and, for now, has no plans to mediate with Ryanair—through the company Azul Handling—or Menzies.
The queues were observed early in the morning, as many passengers arrived at the airport earlier than usual to avoid problems with flights. "There are fewer staff and we must comply with all airport security regulations, obviously everything is delayed a bit," the union leader said. "It's not in our interest for there to be a lack of attention on the planes, but what we will always do is comply with the regulations," he added.
The Spanish government set minimum service levels of between 35% and 83%. The UGT (General Union of Workers' Unions) has assured that Menzies has complied and made "correct" use of the 74% percentage required for this Saturday. The UGT has reiterated that on the second day of strikes, Ryanair has continued to violate workers' right to strike and has reaffirmed that it will report this to the Labor Inspectorate and the National Court. "We ask you to reconsider what you're doing. We understand that the minimum services declared by the ministry are already excessive, and on top of that, Ryanair is going one step further and concentrating them within the strike time slots," Ramírez criticized.
