Agreement reached to stop planned strikes at Spanish airports

MADRID. March 16. KAZINFORM The labor unions UGT, CC.OO and USO on Wednesday reached agreement with the company that runs Spain's airports, AENA, to call off the 22 days of strike action scheduled for this year. Kazinform refers to Xinhua.

The agreement, which was reached after 17 hours of negotiations, guarantees the current working conditions for the staff who could have been affected by government plans to privatize 49 percent of AENA.

The 22 days of strike action were due to begin with the Easter weekend and coincide with the key moments of the holiday travel season.

Such a move would have caused havoc with the plans of travelers and would also have created huge losses for a Spanish tourism industry looking to recover from the effects of the recent economic crisis.

The agreement has still to be ratified by union members at their assemblies, before the strikes are definitively called off but Prime Minister, Jose Luis Zapatero said he is confident that will be a formality.

"We have good news, the agreement between AENA and the workers brings an end to the strike call that had been formulated. It is an agreement which assures total normality at the airports and the mobility of citizens and visitors on the dates that had been signalled," Zapatero said in Parliament.

The talks that led to the agreement between AENA and the unions began in a positive atmosphere on Tuesday with union representatives signalling their optimism in reaching a solution. Kazinform cites Xinhua. See www.xinhuanet.com