Airport security workers want Aena involved in strike conflict

The first attempts to calm the situation at Barcelona El Prat airport’s Terminal 1 and bring an end to the queues and endless waiting for security controls ended in failure at the Ministry of Employment yesterday. The meeting between workers and representatives of the company Eulen, mediated by the Catalan government, ended in no agreement as members of the strike committee demanded the presence of Aena, the company that runs the airport, in the negotiations.

It will not be known whether Aena agrees to participate in the talks until Friday, when the next meeting is scheduled.

While the positions of workers and the company remain far apart, yesterday at El Prat the scenes of long queues, passenger nerves and in some cases missed flights were repeated. According to Aena, the main problems came early in the morning with waits of between 45 and 50 minutes, even longer than Monday.

The temporary work company Eulen beat off competition from Prosegur to win the tender to manage the security controls at El Prat last summer. Since then, workers claim that their salaries have decreased and that staffing policy forces them to work overtime, with some staff having to do shifts as long as 16 hours.