Called off the strike at Spanish airports AENA

USPA NEWS - Spanish unions USO and Workers' Commissions (CCOO its acronym in Spanish) have called off the planned strike 22 days from February 11 until August at airports managed by the public company AENA. The desconvocatoria occurs after reaching an agreement on the maintenance of the workforce.

The 22 days of strike had been called against the partial privatization of AENA, the sale of 49% stake held Wednesday (see news in Uspa News Business section) and in defense of the workforce, and were to be developed on key dates of major importance in Spanish airports because of its proximity to holidays and local festivals. The unions denounced the failure of the agreement by the company and continue to reject the privatization of the company. Now they have made a commitment of the company to maintain the workforce this year, reset the program of temporary contracts and ratifying the collective agreement of the company annually until 2021.

For unions, this agreement ends with "uncertainty" of workers, who nevertheless remain opposed to the privatization of AENA because, in his opinion, opens the door to the closure of public airports based on "purely economic criteria" while that the company "is willing to bail out private airports" with problems. Therefore, the two unions -which grouped 70% of workers in the company- argue that privatization is "a disservice to Spain and its citizens".

AENA is revalued on the Exchange

Furthermore, AENA premiered on Wednesday 11 February at the Madrid Stock Exchange with an increase of 12.2% in its share price, to 65.10 euros per share versus 58 euros set by the company. Five minutes after starting the session, shares of the company marked the peak of the day to reach 67.40 euros, 16% more than at the beginning. For the president of AENA, Jose Manuel Vargas, the IPO ends "a long and complex process, difficult and successful. What was a dream, today is reality," he told reporters. While in Parliament, the Minister of Development, Ana Pastor, defended the privatization of AENA saying that "what we have done is to turn the company" and reiterated that the company "remains in public".

The first day of AENA in markets ended on a revaluation of the company's 20.69% to EUR 70 per share. On Thursday, the company's sales continued to rise in the markets, although the appreciation of the company stabilized during the morning around 5%. For the president of AENA, this results is a consequence of two factors: first, because "it is not often that a global leader, the main airport operator in the world, take a Exchange" and secondly because AENA has obtained results "magnificent in an environment of very positive perception of economic recovery".