Ryanair has played down the prospect of any significant disruption to its schedule towards the end of next week when a series of stoppages by its baggage handling partner are planned at airports across Spain.
The General Union of Workers (UGT) in Spain has called a series of strikes at Azul Handling, which falls under the Ryanair umbrella, over what is claims is “continuous precariousness” and “constant breaches” of labour rights.
The union represents about 20 per cent of the staff at the baggage handling operator.
While the stoppages have been timed for the business travel periods of the week and could lead to significant delays in baggage being processed, Ryanair said it does not anticipate any major disruption in the days ahead at least in part as a result of legislation in Spain that protects essential services from total shutdowns.
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“Due to Spain’s minimum service legislation during peak summer months, we do not expect any disruption to our operation as a result of these strikes by the UGT union, who represent less than 20 per cent of Azul staff in our third-party handler in Spain,” a spokeswoman said.
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The strike action is set to take place next Friday, Saturday and Sunday over three time slots, with the first stoppages planned for a four hour period from 5am to 9am when the airports in question are likely to be at their busiest.
Subsequent stoppages are planned from midday to 3pm and from 9pm to midnight on each of the three days.
According to the union, the stoppages will then continue every Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday until the end of the year.
Airports likely to be affected include most of the key holiday destinations for Irish travellers, including Madrid, Barcelona, Seville, Malaga, Alicante, Ibiza, Palma de Mallorca, Girona, Tenerife South, Lanzarote and Santiago de Compostela.
