Spanish airport workers have announced 22 days of strikes that will affect peak travelling periods including Easter week.

The exact dates of the strike are: 20th, 21st, 24th, 25th and 30th April; 2nd, 14th, 15th, 19th and 20th May; 13th, 23rd and 30th June; 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 15th and 31st July and 1st, 15th and 31st August.

The strikes are in protest at the planned privatization of Spain’s airports which are currently run by the state. AENA has already arranged a meeting with the UGT, USO and CCOO trade unions to try and avoid the strikes and what it calls the ‘worst possible scenario’ because of the damage it will do to the Spanish tourist sector and the economy.

The strikes have been planned to coincide with the busiest travelling days in the Spanish calendar. The 25th April is a bank holiday in 8 regions (the Balearic Islands, Valencia, the Basque Country, Aragón, Castilla and León, the Rioja, Catalonia and Navarra) and the 2nd May in ten regions (Andalucía, Cantabria, the Madrid region, Valencia, Extremadura, Murcia, Asturias, Ceuta and Aragón).

In June the 13th is a bank holiday in Catalonia and the 23rd in the region of Madrid and in Castilla-La Mancha. In July and August the dates will coincide with the start and end of the people’s annual holidays as well as 15th August which is a national bank holiday.

The CC.OO., UGT and USO represent 12,500 airport workers. The dates for the strikes were presented to the Ministry of Work because of ‘the negative response of the government to their proposals’. However, the unions have also repeated their intentions to continue negotiating in order to find a solution to this ‘serious conflict’.

The unions have apologized to travellers who will be affected by the strikes saying that up to 49% of AENA will be privatised under the current government proposals leading to thousands of airport workers losing their jobs and the closure of some airports.