Spanish Airbus strike shuts down production at several factories

OVIEDO, Spain

Thousands of Airbus workers across Spain went on strike Wednesday to demand higher wages from the multinational aerospace corporation.

Unions said the “majority” of the company’s around 12,300 workers in Spain turned up at picket lines in front of eight factories.

In Cadiz, where there are two factories, unions said participation was 100%.

The strike was called to shut down Airbus production for the entire week, but Monday was a holiday within the company and Tuesday was a holiday in Spain.

“We want to paralyze all the activity at Airbus factories to guarantee a fair wage revision. It cannot be that workers are the ones who have to deal with economic uncertainty because Airbus has record orders, deliveries and turnover while its workforce is losing purchasing power,” said local union leader Alfonso Mora in a statement.

Unions say the latest agreement between the company and workers from last December included a 1.5% annual wage increase — far below Spain’s 7.3% year-on-year inflation rate for October.

Last week, Airbus announced €1,500 ($1486) one-time payments to all its employees in Germany, France, Spain and Britain to help workers cope with inflation.

However, Spanish workers and unions say payment does not go far enough.

“There should be a far distribution of the company’s multimillion-euro earnings,” said Mora.

In an earnings call last week, the aerospace corporation said its net profits increased year-on-year by 65% for the third quarter of 2022. Despite the “complex operating environment,” it also maintained its goal of achieving an adjusted operating profit of €5.5 billion for 2022.

Unions also point out that business in Spain has been booming.

“There are good prospects, excellent in Cadiz, where two factories are undergoing industrial transformation processes and the doubling of workforces,” union leader Juan Antonio Vázquez told local daily La Vox del Sur.

“We are talking about a company that had a backlog of 7,294 commercial aircraft at the end of September, meaning production is guaranteed for the next 10 years. There isn’t a company in the world that has that.”

While the protests are set to end by this week, union leaders say the strikes will continue until workers stop losing purchasing power.

According to a recent study by OECD, Spanish workers, on average, have seen real wages decline by 4.5% this year due to inflation.