The shadow cast by the wildcat strike

The UGT, CCOO and USO labor unions are considering 22 days of strikes should the government continue with its plans to privatize up to 49 percent of AENA, the public company in charge of managing Spain's airports. According to the unions, their opposition is not so much in terms of the privatization itself, but rather the fact that the Madrid and Barcelona airports will be included. Despite government guarantees, the unions fear that the privatization will end up reducing the rights of the employees at the huge Barajas (Madrid) and El Prat (Barcelona) airports.

Although the first strikes are not due to take place until April, there is little time for the two sides to reach an agreement before that date. The reason for this is that the unions and the government are both entrenched in their respective points of principle ? i.e. whether or not Spain's two biggest airports should be privatized in the first place ? rather than issues upon which common ground can be sought. Having said that, it is encouraging to see that both the unions and the government have expressed their willingness to negotiate.

An eventual strike by AENA employees would be met with suspicion by an already mistrustful public. The wildcat strike by Spain's air-traffic controllers on December 3, timed to coincide with a holiday weekend, has left public opinion raw. And although air-traffic controllers are not among the AENA employees planning to strike, a repeat of the disruption to travel plans in Spanish airports could work against the interests of AENA staff, weakening their position. They may find they have to cede first, although the government is unlikely to emerge from this fight unscathed either.

The dates chosen by the unions, which coincide with the beginning and end of the holiday break, reveal the unions' willingness to cause the greatest disruption possible to people's journeys, and auger disagreements over levels of minimum service. The implicit reasoning of the unions in choosing these strike days is not acceptable, given that the plan is to increase its power to negotiate with the government by affecting the greatest number of travelers possible. This is, of course, an option included within their right to strike, but it is one that demands the acceptance of minimum services that are in proportion to the previsions for the volume of air traffic at this busy holiday time.

The unions say that their intention is to spark a debate in society over airport privatization. This is an essential debate. But it is a paradoxical approach to invite the public to consider the issue while at the same time threatening them with travel chaos. Any sympathy that the public may have for the call to avoid the privatization of airports could quickly melt away in some sectors if the unions cause mass disruption for air passengers.