MADRID, Aug. 13 (Xinhua) -- Employees of Spanish national airline Iberia have confirmed they will strike for four days at the end of August at Barcelona's El Prat airport.
The strikes have been scheduled for the 24th and 25th of August and the 30th and 31st of the month when many Spaniards will be returning home following the summer holidays.
These stoppages follow two days of strike action on 27th and 28th of July, which caused dozens of flights into and out of Barcelona to be cancelled and many more to be delayed.
Labor unions have said that the new series of strikes, which will affect areas such as check in, boarding and baggage handling, are protesting at what they describe as the "passivity" of management in responding to demands for improvements in working conditions.
Unions are unhappy at what they insist is a lack of staff, which mean workers have to carry out "abusive" workloads including extra shifts and overtime.
Iberia employs around 2,500 personnel at Barcelona airport and the strike will not only affect flights from Iberia, Iberia Express and Air Nostrum, but also other airlines which belong to the International Consolidated Airlines Group, such as Vueling (which has its operating base in Barcelona), British Airways and Air Lingus.
Barcelona airport is already affected by a strike by security staff which began on Aug. 9 following complaints over lack of staff over the holiday period. This strike has caused some short delays for travelers going though security checks, with queues of around 40 minutes at security controls.
