The management of Eulen, the security contractors at Barcelona airport, have accepted the Catalan government's mediation proposal, "in general terms but with small changes", while their workers have described the offer as "insufficient", although they will take it to a vote in their meeting on Thursday.
The Catalan department of Labour presented a proposal to Eulen and its workers this Tuesday, which includes a fifth worker for each queue and a salary increase of 200 euros for all employees. The staff had demanded 350 euros while the company were offering 155.
"With its maximal effort to find an end to this dispute, the company is agreeing to the mediation proposal, which would mean an average salary increase of 11.5%, accepting these disproportionate conditions", the company said. It also pointed out that it has already accepted other operational conditions.
Eulen emphasised that it accepts and adheres to the proposal with the aim of solving the queuing situation in the airport "as soon as possible". These queues are due to the strike over disagreements in working conditions, which have been discussed in the mediation meeting between management, the strike committee and the public operator of the airport, Aena.
Eulen said that, before the Catalan government offered their proposal, they themselves had offered improvement measures "in accordance with the demands of the workers" without having them accepted, and lamented the problems being caused to the users of the service.
Rejection of the proposal by the workers
Despite Eulen's "yes" to the proposal, the intervention of the Catalan government, the striking workers have not accepted it.
In statements to the media, the strike committee's adviser, Joan Carles Giménez, said that the proposal is "insufficient", since it offers a salary increase of 200 euros while the workers are asking for 350.
However, Giménez has noted that the staff of Eulen have a meeting on Thursday in which they will vote on whether to accept the government's proposal, already accepted by the management of the company, or if they commit themselves to sticking with the demands of the strike committee.