The meeting today between representatives of the security guards at Barcelona-El Prat Josep Tarradellas airport and management of contractor Trablisa ended with no agreement being reached. As such, the indefinite strike scheduled for Friday remains.
The meeting started at 10am with the mediation of the Catalan labour ministry, but after almost three hours it did not prove possible to reach an agreement.
"Everything against"
Before the meeting, the Trablisa strike committee's adviser, Juan Carlos Giménez, said that the security staff were expecting the company to make a "minimal proposal", but that the employees have "everything against them" in the negotiations with Trablisa.
"The company will bring a minimal proposal to be able to say we're negotiating, but we have no hopes that it will be meaningful for the employees", he said, as well as reiterating that they have "every right to strike". Giménez said that in order to comply with the minimum services of 90% established by the Spanish government's delegation to Catalonia, staff who are on leave or on holiday would have to be called in and that as such this high percentage will be "difficult" to cover.
In addition, Giménez criticised the support Trablisa is getting from Aena -the Spanish state-owned airport management company- and the Spanish government. He said that, despite the company's proposal not having "even the minimums" security guards are asking for, they will hold an assembly this Thursday to report back to staff on the details of today's negotiations. Everything suggests, however, that the workers will vote in favor of going on strike from midnight on Friday.