STAFF handling baggage, check-in, and boarding at Barcelona Airport are set to walk out on indefinite strike from Tuesday.
This is the second time in 2026 that Groundforce workers at the airport that provide services for over 20 airlines at Barcelona’s two terminals have threatened an indefinite walkout.
A strike in March involving staff at 12 Spanish airports was partially suspended after a last-minute agreement, but the CGT union that called next month’s walk out says the underlying problems were never resolved.
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Groundforce is the primary handling contractor at Barcelona for Air Europa, Lufthansa, Air France, KLM, Qatar Airways, Turkish Airlines, United Airlines, Etihad Airways, SAS, ITA Airways, Finnair, El Al, LOT Polish Airlines, Air China, Saudia Airlines, Air Transat, and Luxair, among others.
Check-in, baggage loading, boarding, and flight coordination for all of those carriers will be subject to minimum service requirements ranging from 35% to 80% of normal operations in August, depending on the route type and the availability of alternative connections.
There are 1,179 workers at Barcelona and the CGT says the action has been called due to ‘management inaction over the serious deterioration of risk prevention and occupational health conditions at El Prat’.
Union members include check-in agents, ramp workers, baggage loaders, and passenger assistance staff with the strike described as a ‘last resort’ after months of ignored requests for improvements.
The CGT has criticised skeleton staffing through the peak season, unsustainable workloads, extreme physical fatigue, stress, risk of accidents, excessive overtime, insufficient rest between shifts, and inadequate training for newly-hired staff-
Workers said that Groundforce ‘sees nothing but numbers'” while employees ‘see nothing but illnesses’.
There has been no comment from Groundforce over next week’s strike call.
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