Metro strike to disrupt Mobile World Congress

Visitors expected to attend the Mobile World Congress which begins in the city of Barcelona on Monday will have to contend with a strike by workers on the city's metro system after union representatives abandoned talks over their collective working conditions in the early hours of Sunday morning.

The workers asked for a one-percent pay rise and wanted the Barcelona public transport company (TMB) to employ more people on permanent, indefinite contracts.

The strike, which will last for three days, will see 50 percent of services during morning and evening rush hours and 30 percent services the rest of the time.

Ada Colau, the Mayor of Barcelona, insisted that the local authority had some "the maximum possible" to avoid the strike, which she described as legitimate, but "disproportionate" as she considered there to be "enough material" to have avoided it.

The strike will be an inconvenience to the expected 95,000 visitors at the MWC, but the Fira Gran Via, where the event is held, is also served by local rail links and also bus services.

This is also the first time the MWC has been served by a metro service in the three years it has been held at the current venue. The line linking the Fira and also Barcelona airport to the city was only opened earlier this month and in previous years visitors had to use alternative means of transport. Endit