After reaching an agreement with the company regarding the financial guarantees for transferred employees, the UGT union has cancelled the planned strike by ground handling services provided by Menzies at Alicante-Elche Airport and six other airports across Spain, which was scheduled for April 2nd-6th.
In September 2023, Menzies, a subsidiary of the Kuwaiti Agility Group, was awarded the Aena ground handling contract. This agreement secured ramp and passenger services at the following airports: Alicante-Elche, Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca, Malaga, Gran Canaria, Tenerife South, and Tenerife North.
Sources from UGT, the company’s majority union, said that the agreement was reached at the Mediation and Arbitration Service (SIMA) yesterday morning, Tuesday 31st March. The agreement also addresses discrepancies in annual working hours and fixed and variable compensation.
It has also been agreed to address the management of overtime and shift scheduling, which will be “analysed and improved for proper implementation, avoiding the constant errors that have been occurring in their management by the company.”
Additionally, the organisation has pledged to initiate employment negotiations in April, “in light of the precarious state of the workforce at the airports, where part-time contracts are more prevalent than the genuine necessity for full-time employment.”
Nevertheless, the unions CCOO, UGT, and USO have initiated partial strikes at Groundforce ground handling, which is a subsidiary of the Globalia group, in response to wage disputes with the company. The strikes will occur on the morning, afternoon, and night schedules (5:00 to 7:00, 11:00 to 17:00, and 22:00 to 00:00) from April 1st to 5th.
In that competition, Groundforce procured 12 licences: Madrid, Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca, Alicante, Malaga, Gran Canaria, Valencia, Ibiza, Bilbao, Lanzarote, Fuerteventura, and air cargo in Zaragoza.
