AENA finds no agreement with controllers on last day of talks

 

Spain's Airport Authority - AENA - were unable to reach agreement with Air Traffic Controllers on the last day of talks concerning changes to their salaries and working conditions yesterday.

Meetings had been held every day for the last two weeks, and now as no agreement has been found Ex Employment Minister, Manuel Pimentel will act as the agreed arbitrator, and resolve the differences between the two parties. He has been given a deadline of February 28 to broker an agreement which both sides will have to accept.

The conflict over pay and working conditions for the air traffic controllers has already lasted more than a year. It's understood the problem has been working conditions, as both wages and working hours were agreed by both sides last August.

It is now well over a year since the conflict between AENA and the air traffic controllers began, due to proposed changes to their salaries, hours and working conditions. Some of these changes have already been agreed to, and took effect over the course of last year, while others are still causing conflict. The problem is believed to be the issue of working conditions, which has already lead to a wildcat strike over Spain's holiay weekend at the begining of December.