Barcelona’s main international gateway is bracing for disruption after the CGT union confirmed that its nearly 1,200 Groundforce employees will begin an open-ended strike at 00:00 h on Tuesday, 4 August. The industrial action affects check-in, boarding, ramp and flight-coordination services provided to more than twenty international and Spanish carriers at Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat Airport, including Lufthansa, Air France-KLM, Qatar Airways and United Airlines. The union accuses Groundforce—part of Globalia—of allowing a “grave deterioration” in health-and-safety conditions, understaffing and inadequate training for new hires during the record-breaking summer season. Negotiations stalled on Monday when management failed to present a timetable to address workload and staffing ratios, prompting CGT to maintain the walk-out first announced last week. According to Spain’s Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, as many as 2 million passengers and 11,600 flights could be affected between August and September. The government has imposed minimum-service levels of 80 % on routes to the Balearic and Canary Islands and 58 % on most international flights for August to protect essential connectivity; purely domestic routes with viable rail alternatives will see protection fall to 35 %. For corporates, the timing could not be worse: Barcelona is hosting several large trade fairs in mid-August, and the city is a hub for Mediterranean cruise turn-arounds. Mobility managers are being advised to re-route critical staff through Madrid-Barajas or Girona-Costa Brava where possible, allow longer connection windows, and remind travellers that priority-security and VIP-lounge access will not guarantee baggage delivery or ramp-handling services. Airlines have begun messaging passengers to travel with hand-luggage only and have activated voluntary re-booking waivers. The strike also highlights Spain’s broader ground-handling liberalisation. Groundforce won 12 major licences in Aena’s 2023 tender, a reform intended to boost competition and service quality. If the industrial dispute drags on, Aena may face calls to revisit contractual performance clauses—something other European airports, notably Heathrow and Schiphol, have done in response to post-pandemic labour shortages.
Source: El País
