Barcelona airport strike threatens disruption for 1.8 million passengers as sackings spark protests

Passengers checking in at Barcelona’s Terminal 1 on Monday October 19 could find themselves walking past an angry protest, as ground staff hit back at the company that sacked members of their own strike committee. The dispute’s been rumbling on since August, and the Spanish government has already drawn up strike rules running to the end of November.

Sacked strike leaders spark weekly protests at T1

Ground staff working for Groundforce, the company that handles check-in, boarding and baggage for more than 12 airlines at Barcelona-El Prat, are taking their fight into the terminal itself. The CGT union has called protests in the T1 departures area from 11am to 2pm on Monday October 19, Monday October 26 and Monday November 2.

The trigger is a round of sackings. According to the union, Groundforce has dismissed three workers, two of whom sat on the strike committee and also served as health and safety representatives, with safety being the exact issue at the heart of the whole dispute, which the union says is no coincidence.

Strike committee member Juan Navarro said the company flatly refused when the union asked for all three to be reinstated. So the union now plans to protest every Monday, making sure Aena (the state-owned company that runs Spain’s main airports) can’t ignore that the conflict is still going on. No statement from Groundforce on the dismissals has been reported, while the CGT has said it will take every legal step available to defend the sacked workers. 

The strike never really went away

Plenty of travellers could be forgiven for thinking the summer’s baggage chaos was behind them. Groundforce’s Barcelona staff, more than 1,200 people, first walked out on Tuesday August 4 in a dispute about understaffing, heavy workloads, high staff turnover and safety, rather than pay.

By the second week, 3,000 bags were stranded and 170 flights cancelled, and by the third, 270 flights had been axed and around 6,000 bags were stuck, with families describing entire holidays spent without their luggage.

The union then briefly paused the strike to give talks a chance. However, those talks went nowhere, the first strike committee members were sacked, and the indefinite strike was back on from September 17. Now, with the latest dismissals, the union said an already bad situation has got even worse.

Which airlines use Groundforce in Barcelona

Spain’s Transport Ministry names Air France-KLM, Lufthansa and Air Europa as the main airlines Groundforce handles at Barcelona, while Qatar Airways, Turkish Airlines, United, ITA Airways and Finnair have also been reported among those exposed.

Over the summer, Lufthansa Group airlines, including SWISS, Austrian and Eurowings, were among the hardest hit. However, British Airways, Iberia, Vueling, easyJet and Ryanair weren’t caught up in it, as they use different ground handling companies.

Up to 1.8 million passengers on flights covered by the strike rules

Spain’s Transport Ministry has already signed off a new minimum services order covering October 1 to November 30. That alone shows nobody’s expecting this to be settled quickly.

Under the order, 77 per cent of flights to and from the Balearic and Canary Islands must run, along with 57 per cent of international flights and long domestic routes in October, dropping to 55 per cent in November. Short domestic routes, where a train or coach takes less than five hours, are only protected at 36 per cent in October and 34 per cent in November.

The ministry estimates that around 10,400 flights and up to 1.8 million passengers fall under the strike across those two months. Flights outside the protected levels can still be cancelled, sometimes at short notice.

What to do if your flight is affected

If you’re flying with any of the airlines above, check your flight status in the airline’s app before you leave for the airport, rather than relying on the departures board at El Prat. On Mondays, it’s also worth leaving a little extra time to get through T1 departures while the protest is on. Packing essentials and a change of clothes in your hand luggage is sensible too, given how many bags went astray over the summer.

On compensation, strikes by an airport’s ground handling staff are usually treated as ‘extraordinary circumstances’ under EU flight rules, so airlines rarely have to pay out cash. However, you’re still entitled to a refund or a new flight if yours is cancelled, plus meals and a hotel if you’re left stranded overnight.

So until Groundforce and the CGT get back round the table, anyone flying out of Barcelona with these airlines should check before setting off, with the first protest due on Monday October 19.