Airport workers strike timed to disrupt Christmas passengers

Paul Rees 22 December 2016

airplane Portugal’s airports operator, French-owned ANA, says the planned weekend strike by airport baggage handling and security staff is set to cause severe problems at one of the busiest times of the year.

ANA reported that the strike is due to start on Saturday and carry on through next week. The company has been asked by its client airlines to produce some sort of action plan to deal with the inevitable disruption but nothing yet has been published despite the airlines’ professed concern for their passengers.

All ANA has said to date is that passengers should arrive earlier than the usual two hours, already a long wait designed to increase ‘retail opportunities’ - and to avoid bringing cabin baggage if at all possible.

In a statement, ANA management warned that "it is foreseeable that the processing of passengers at national airports will suffer constraints" due to the strikes convened for 24, 27, 28, 29 and 30 December, and recommended that "on strike days, passengers should present themselves at the airport well in advance and follow the instructions given by airlines."

In the same note, ANA suggests that passengers may prefer to use hold baggage and to reduce cabin baggage, "thereby facilitating the process of controlling the safety of people and goods."

Disturbances at national airports will start on Christmas Eve with a strike by Groundforce personnel called by the National Union of Civil Aviation Workers (SINTAC) in protest against the company's management and "in defense of the Business Agreement."

From Tuesday, 27th December the impact will increase due to strike convened by the Union of Aviation Workers and Airports (SITAVA), which covers Groundforce and Portway baggage handling workers.

Employees of Prosegur and Securitas, who X-ray hand luggage and check passengers and airport workers, are going on strike for three days, starting next Tuesday, because they claim there still is no agreement on a new collective bargaining agreement.

With all this disruption planned by airport workers, "the airlines expect ANA to announce in advance its plan to alleviate the effects of the strike, so airlines can contact their passengers," said the president of the Airlines Association, Paulo Geisler who stressed that companies are "worried about the timings, because a security workers’ strike can negatively impact traffic at a critical time for Portuguese families."

ANA posted this message on Friday morning:

"ANA Aeroportos de Portugal would like to inform all passengers that, due to the strikes announced by handlers on December 24 (SINTAC) and 28 through 30 (SITAVA), and safety companies on December 27, 28 and 29 (SITAVA), ground services at national airports may suffer constraints.

"We recommend that, during this period, passengers arrive at the airport extra early and follow instructions from airline’s, tour operators and travel agencies.

"We also suggest passengers opt for hold luggage instead of carry-on, to ease security control of persons and goods."