Spain's air traffic controllers continue strike in 16 airports

By Alyssa McMurtry

OVIEDO, Spain (AA) - After negotiations over pay and working conditions broke down once again, air traffic controllers in 16 Spanish airports continued to strike on Thursday.

The discontinuous strikes, which began in February, are set to continue every Sunday and Thursday throughout April.

The strike is affecting the Spanish airports that have privatized their air-traffic controllers: Alicante, Valencia, Ibiza, Murcia, Lleida, Vigo, Coruna, Cuatro Vientos, Seville, Jerez, Castellon, and the Canary Islands airports of Lanzarote, Fuerteventura, La Palma and El Hierro.

Many flights have been delayed, but disruptions to travelers have been limited due to what the USCA Union calls “abusive” minimum service levels set by the government, which are “impeding the right to strike.”

However, Podemos MP Rafa Mayoral joined the striking workers in Mallorca on Thursday, announcing that his party will present legal amendments to de-privatize the air traffic controllers’ jobs.

“Air space is an essential element of national security that affects critical infrastructures and strategic economic sectors. And this means the towers can’t be private,” said the member of the junior coalition partner in the government.

In 2011, Spain partially liberalized the market for air traffic controllers.

The year prior, the country's air traffic controllers staged a strike that caused the total shutdown of Spanish airspace over two days in December.

As a response, Spain's government declared a state of alert and ordered the air traffic controllers back to work under the threat of military force.

Today, those working in the privatized part of the sector say they’re the “worst-paid” air traffic controllers in Europe and the only ones who have to pay for their own training.

Unions behind the strike say that workers are losing purchasing power this year, being forced to work more, and being subject to worse conditions.