Spanish government attempts to avert holiday air strike

By Sinikka Tarvainen Mar 15, 2011, 11:43 GMT

Madrid - Spanish trade unions and the government were negotiating frantically Tuesday in an attempt to ward off a strike by airport staff which threatens to deal a heavy blow to the country's key tourism industry.

Unions have announced 22 strike days between April and August - many of which fall on key days of the Easter and summer holidays.

A new offer from the airport management authority Aena has raising cautious hopes of an agreement, sources at the trade union confederation UGT said.

The strike is to protest against the partial privatisation of Aena, which unions see as undermining the rights of airport employees.

Aena staff includes baggage handlers, mechanics, fire crews, dispatchers operating aircraft parking ramps, and other professionals essential for the running of airport logistics.

The strike threat could hardly come at a worse time for Spain's tourism industry - one of the country's main hopes to revive its stagnant economy - which already took several blows in 2010.

In addition to the volcanic ash cloud from Iceland which paralyzed airports in Spain and elsewhere in Europe, but Spanish air traffic controllers staged a wildcat strike in December, leaving more than 600,000 passengers stranded.

The government forced the controllers back to work within a day by placing them under military law, but even the short strike cost the tourism and airline sectors hundreds of millions of euros.

Any fresh wave of strikes would hit Spain just as its tourism industry, which contributes about 10 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), has started recovering from the global crisis.

International tourist arrivals to Spain increased by 1 per cent to 52.6 million in 2010, according to government figures.

Spain receives the world's fourth-largest number of tourists after France, the United States and China, according to the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).

Tourism could play a key role in creating jobs for some of Spain's more than 4 million unemployed - 20 per cent of the work force - as the country struggles to revitalize one of the eurozone's weakest economies.

The Spanish tourism industry could also profit from the current unrest in North African Arab countries such as Tunisia, Egypt or Morocco.

However, the strike threat has already made some tourists cancel their holidays in Spain, according to travel agencies. Potential visitors to Spain are looking for alternatives, such as Turkey or the Caribbean, representatives of the sector said.

The strike would cause losses worth 400 million euros (560 million dollars) during the Easter season alone, the industry calculates.

The eventual strike would 'take citizens hostage and blackmail the entire country,' said Manuel Macineiras of the travel agencies' association Aedave.

Aena has now offered new labour conditions to its employees after it is privatised. The offer was 'coherent,' though still far from sufficient, UGT said.

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