Karl Smallman
SPANISH air traffic controllers are to strike on June 8, 10, 12 and 14 a union spokeswoman said today.
They will strike for two hours each morning and two hours each afternoon at airports across the country.
She announced it was in response to sanctions handed down by airports operator AENA to air controllers in Barcelona following a strike in 2010.
Five years ago Spanish airports were paralysed due to the wildcat strike which left more than 300,000 passengers stranded.
The controllers were protesting about a new working hours decision approved by the Spanish cabinet.
The government declared a state of alert, unprecedented since Spain became a democracy after the death of Franco in 1975. That allowed for the air controllers to be arrested, face immediate charges and prison sentences of up to six years.
At the time airport authority AENA said 70 per cent of all controllers had either left their stations or failed to turn up for work, without prior notice. Many called in to say they were sick or unable to work.
Skum of the eatrth.
I disagree with dan.glibballs however they’ve become used to wagging the dog with its tail & quite possibly influenced by the French who probably hold the record on how the public (the people who ultimately pay their wages) can be inconvenienced & business disrupted. Such people who operate a vital public service should simply not be permitted by Law, to strike.
Should they do so, then serious penalties would apply & their work taken over immediately by the military who’re supposed to be trained in this field.
A working person only has one thing to sell. Their labour. If the price offered for their labour isn’t enough for their needs, then of course, they are entitled to withdraw it. Those sections of the workforce who sign up to a job where strikes are illegal (cops for one) are well looked after and rarely have a beef about their lot and if they do, are swiftly taken care of.
Incidentally, the language of air-traffic control is English, do you really think David, that there are sufficient numbers of the “military” with the language and technical skills to take on this task?
They can handle a bin-strike, but that’s about it.
Workers do NOT strike for fun. It is always a huge gamble to take that course. It is never followed lightly.
The strike is in protest at suspensions handed down to controllers who have been cleared of any wrongdoing in the courts of law.