Barcelona, August 8 (RHC)-- Around 360 airport workers held a partial strike at Barcelona’s El Prat airport in Spain to demand better working conditions. The workers argue Eulen, the company in charge of airport security and control, have failed to respond to their demands which include a pay rise of 350 euros and measures to deal with the excessive workload.
The number of passengers arriving at El Prat airport increased by 60 percent between 2009 and 2016, placing extra strain on workers, the strikers say. Eulen representatives and the airport workers met to negotiate a deal but failed to reach an agreement. The strike follows a previous partial-strike that was held on Friday.
Workers have called similar stoppages for August 11th and 13th, and have threatened a full strike beginning on August 14th if no deal is reached.
Airports operator Aena, which is majority-owned by the Spanish state, has already said it could levy fines against Eulen for failure to adhere to its terms of service after several days of long waits at El Prat in July, in what Aena described as an "unofficial strike."
Around 1,000 travelers have missed flights at El Prat airport since late July due to unofficial strike actions by security staff, according to the Association of Spanish Aviation Companies.