Further strikes planned by Spanish air traffic controllers for coming week
Xinhua, July 25, 2015 Adjust font size:
The Spanish Air Traffic Controllers Union (USCA) announced on Friday that it is maintaining plans for a partial stoppage on the 25th and 26th of July after the failure of negotiations with the company which manages Spanish air-traffic navigation (Enaire).
The strikes are between 10:00 and 12:00 hours on July 25th and 17:00 and 20:00 hours the following day, as many Spaniards will be starting their summer holidays.
It is the second set of strike action this summer after similar stoppages were held on 8th, 10th, 12th and 14th of June, although on those four days the strike was hardly noticed due to the minimum service level of 80 percent imposed by the Spanish Ministry of Public Works.
That minimum service level will be imposed again in the coming two days, a level of service that USCA has described as "abusive."
The strike is over the sanctions imposed on 61 air-traffic controllers and the sacking of one worker in Barcelona as a result of an air-traffic controllers strike over the holiday weekend at the start of December 2010, which left hundreds of thousands of passengers stranded and ended with the Spanish government calling a state of emergency and bringing in military controllers to direct air-traffic. Endit