Travellers could face disruption in Spain, France, Germany and the UK this spring
Workers from many industries are walking out across Europe to protest low pay and poor working conditions. After strikes caused disruption during the February school holidays, more industrial action is planned by transport workers in the run-up to Easter.
Travellers could face disruption in Spain, France and the UK between now and the busy holiday period. Read on to find out where and when are walkouts taking place.
If you flight or train is cancelled or delayed, you will be entitled to a new ticket or compensation. Read our guide for full details.
Strikes at 17 Spanish airports
Some of Spain’s busiest airports are facing strikes by unionised workers at ground services and cargo handling company Swissport between now and Easter.
From 27 February to 13 April, they have called for a series of 24-hour walkouts every Monday, Tuesday and Thursday.
Swissport Handling provides services at Madrid-Barajas, Barcelona-El Prat, Reus, Alicante, Valencia, Murcia, Málaga, Almería, Salamanca, Valladolid, Burgos, Logroño, Zaragoza, Huesca, Lanzarote, Gran Canaria and Tenerife Sur airports.
Unions will have to provide minimum services, as is required by Spanish law, so it isn’t yet clear what impact the strikes will have on passengers.
Ongoing pension strikes in France
Unions across France have been in an ongoing battle against plans to increase the legal retirement age from 62 to 64.
The industrial action has previously included railway workers and airport staff with 30 per cent of flights from Paris’s Orly airport cancelled on the last day of strikes.
As this industrial action is ongoing and involves unions across France, it’s worth checking if you could be affected before you travel.
Heathrow strike: Disruption likely during Easter holidays
1,400 security guards at London’s Heathrow Airport are going on strike over the Easter holidays.
The guards who work in Terminal 5, the main portal for British Airways and where many international flights depart and arrive, will be walking out for 10 days from 31 March until 9 April.
They are striking over low pay, after rejecting the airport’s offer of a 10 per cent pay increase. Unite union secretary general Sharon Graham says Heathrow workers are on “poverty wages while the chief executive and senior managers enjoy huge salaries.” A security guard at Heathrow is paid as little as £24,000 (€27,400) a year, according to the union.
The union says the “strike action will cause huge disruption and delays at Heathrow throughout Easter.” But Heathrow says contingency plans will be in place to ensure the airport stays open, saying it will be “open and operational despite unnecessary threats of strike action by Unite”.
When is the UK passport workers strike?
Although this strike doesn’t affect any transport services, it could stop you taking a trip.
More than 1,000 members of the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) working in Passport Offices in England, Scotland and Wales are to walk out from 3 April until 5 May.
The strike will involve those working in Durham, Glasgow, Liverpool, London, Newport, Peterborough and Southport.
The Business Travel Association estimated that more than one million passport applications are due to be processed during the strike period.
German airport workers strike over pay
German airport workers have been taking part in ongoing strike action over pay and unsociable working hours. On Friday 17 March the Ver.di union has called on ground staff at four airports to walk out for the third time in a month.
Industrial action will take place at Cologne-Bonn, Düsseldorf, Stuttgart, and Karlsruhe with a total of five cities affected as Cologne and Bonn share an airport. Passengers have been warned to expect cancellations from Friday morning.
All departures and arrivals have already been cancelled at Stuttgart Airport with travellers advised not to come to the airport and contact their airline directly.
At Cologne-Bonn, the way shifts are scheduled means that travel chaos could continue beyond Friday with a full service not expected to return until Saturday afternoon.
Düsseldorf will run a reduced service on Friday with severe disruption expected. Some flights will still go ahead but many are likely to be cancelled. Passengers are being urged to check the status of their flight and keep hand luggage to a minimum in order to speed up queues at security.