After a marathon day of negotiations, which lasted about 17 hours, unions CCOO, UGT and the USO arrived on Tuesday to a tentative agreement with Aena, to call off the planned strike days in the key dates of Easter and the summer. The draft agreement must now be endorsed by the assemblies of the unions and workers ratified by AENA in a referendum, before the strike, meaning the final decision will not be known until mid to late next week.
One of the main points of the draft agreement is that it applies to all workers of AENA, regardless of which company they work for. This collective agreement is effective until 2018.
The second highlight of the principle of agreement is that AENA have “presence” on the board of directors of the new model of concession companies, particularly in concessions from Madrid-Barajas airport and Barcelona-El Prat.
The tentative agreement also includes the maintenance of jobs and working conditions of workers of AENA and AENA airports and concessionaires. “The unions have been most interested in resolving this conflict,” said a spokesman for the workers that was quoted by Europa Press. However, unions also recalled that, apart from this agreement, they continue to show strong opposition to the privatization of airport management.
“The tourism sector and citizens can be confident that they can travel during Easter,” said Isaiah Táboas, the Secretary of State for Transport, after the meeting, adding that “this draft agreement, we have obtained a path, a time, an expectation, a certainty of peace and good relations with workers to develop the new airport model”.
For his part, President of AENA, Juan Ignacio Lema, welcomed the presence of AENA on the boards of dealerships. “We understand this is a good place because it enables AENA improve and be in the concession and maintain its policy of being the first operator in airports worldwide”.
