Strike threat averted at Spanish airports

Mar 16, 2011, 7:31 GMT

Madrid - The Spanish airport authority Aena and trade unions Wednesday reached a preliminary agreement which was expected to avert a string of work stoppages by airport staff during the Easter and summer holidays.

Tourists can count on being able to take their flights, government transport official Isaias Taboas said.

The agreement, which was reached in the morning after 16 hours of talks, guarantees that no jobs will be cut after Aena is partially privatized.

If the agreement is confirmed by an assembly of Aena employees, unions will call off 22 strike days between April and August. Many of the work stoppages would have fallen on key days of the Easter and summer holidays.

The strike would have dealt a heavy blow to Spain's tourism industry, which contributes about 10 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), just as it is recovering from the global crisis.

The strike would have followed a wildcat walkout by air controllers which left more than 600,000 passengers stranded in December 2010. The government forced the controllers back to work after 20 hours by placing them under military law.

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

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

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

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