Security staff at Barcelona's airport call new strike

This summer's scenes of chaos at Barcelona airport with some holidaymakers having to wait for up to three hours to go through security controls, could happen again. Security staff at the Catalan capital's airport are calling new actions for every Friday beginning September 8. They will stage hour-long strikes between 10.30 and 11.30 and between 18.30 and 19.30. Workers are protesting the low pay and poor working conditions imposed by Eulen, the company in charge of security. Staff suspended the strike after the Barcelona terrorist attacks but are now back to action as they consider that their demands have not been met. They also urge Eulen to halt any firings and complained that two people have already been dismissed following the strikes in August.  

A chaotic conflict

The conflict between security workers and their employee, Eulen, peaked in mid-August, when holidaymakers had to wait between two and three hours at security controls. Like most airports in Spain, Barcelona's is publicly managed by state-controlled AENA, which in turn decided to outsource security to Eulen.     

At the beginning, AENA rejected participating in the strike negotiations on the grounds that it was an internal Eulen matter but said that it was still working on lowering the wait time for passengers at security checkpoints.

The Catalan government called the first mediation meeting with Eulen and its employees on the second day of chaos, on July 25. However, mediation was unsuccessful: in mid-August, workers rejected a proposed offer, which included a €200-monthly pay rise. They asked for at least a €250 rise. By then, AENA joined the discussions, but workers called an indefinite strike.

Amid the conflict, the Spanish government, in charge of airport management, decided to send Guardia Civil agents to the security checkpoints to cover for security personnel on strike. The decision, widely criticized by workers, reduced waiting times for travelers to only around 10 minutes.