People Web International

By Anita Stearman, PWI Reporter Spain

Ryan Air boss, Michael O’Leary, has called for EU to Ban Air Traffic Control Strikes by declaring them to be providers of an ‘Essential Service’. They should be considered in the same way as the Police and Army which cannot go on Strike and if they do they should be sacked. Last year the Irish Airline was forced to cancel 1,400 flights and delay more than 12,000 others disrupting over 2.5 million passengers, due to strikes by air traffic controllers in Belgium, Fance and Spain.

-- by Anita Stearman - PWI Reporter Spain - spain@peoplewebinternational.com

Spanish Airport Strike Easter Holidays 2011 General Workers Union Leaders Are Threatening



Spanish union leaders are threatening to unleash a strike by airport workers that could close down Spain's hubs during the busy Easter vacation season. Thousands of Europeans Travel to Spain during Easter Break for the sunshine and the Spanish Fiestas.  This strike would be a disaster for the key tourist industry at a time of recession in Spain.


The General Workers union and the Workers Commission union say negotiations with the government over its plans to partly privatize the civil aviation agency AENA have broken down. 

GWU representative Raul Gomez said Saturday that "the strike would affect all airports" in the country. 

Spain's Socialist government halted an air traffic control strike in December by imposing an emergency decree that threatened employees with prison and placed control towers under military supervision.

The threatened strike action would be April 22-25, but could be extended to May 22, when the country holds regional elections, the union leaders said.  The strike would cause losses worth 400 million euros (560 million dollars) during the Easter season alone, the industry calculates. 

The government on Friday incorporated a new holding company under which private investors can buy up to 49 percent of AENA's shares. 



AENA director Javier Marin said he was confident that a deal to avert the strike could be achieved.

 "I hope this worrying situation will be resolved through dialogue," Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba said.  We await more information on this situation as Easter 2011 approaches.

-- by PWI Regional Reporter Spain - spain@peoplewebinternational.com