By Emma Pinedo and Charlie Devereux
MADRID, July 9 (Reuters) – Employees of aircraft maker Airbus have gone on strike across most of Spain until the end of July over what unions describe as deteriorating working conditions.
Workers are protesting over issues including sub-inflation pay rises, tighter attendance monitoring and requirements for office staff to spend more time on site, the Independent Union of Aviation Professionals (SIPA) said in a statement.
Airbus, which is under pressure to meet its annual delivery target of 870 jets while grappling with supply-chain constraints, already faced stoppages and protests in France last month after reducing the number of days white-collar staff could work remotely.
The strike, called by SIPA on July 1, initially gained support at Airbus’s Getafe plant near Madrid before spreading to other sites and attracting backing from additional unions, a union leader said.
CCOO, Airbus’s largest union in Spain, has not joined the action but said on Facebook it would call an indefinite strike from September 7 if its demands were not met.
“If no agreement is reached, delivery schedules will be seriously affected by the strike and the industrial action taking place during the final four months of the year at all Airbus Spain sites,” CCOO said.
Airbus employs more than 14,000 people in Spain across eight sites in Madrid, Castile-La Mancha and Andalusia, where it produces military transport planes and parts for commercial aircraft and satellites. Getafe is the company’s third-largest site worldwide, according to Airbus’s website.
(Reporting by Emma Pinedo and Charlie Devereux. Editing by Mark Potter)
