CGT Calls Off Groundforce Strike at Barcelona-El Prat After Agreement; Dispute Over Three Dismissed Workers Remains

The CGT union has called off its indefinite strike at Groundforce, the ground handler for close to 20 airlines at Barcelona-El Prat airport, after signing an agreement with the company. The union announced the deal on Saturday, October 17, 2026, ending a walkout that began on August 4. "After all this time of struggle, we consider the agreement good, and the strike is therefore called off," the CGT said in a statement carried by Europa Press.

Union sources quoted by Metrópoli Abierta say the deal immediately ends scheduled shifts of five hours and 45 minutes. It also commits to an assessment of psychosocial risks and workloads in Terminals 1 and 2, a review of 2024 annual working hours with extra pay where it is owed, and a review of overtime and of the time staff need to move between points at the airport. Staff will also get an internal procedure to apply for airline training courses. The CGT has not published the full text of the agreement.

One dispute remains open. Groundforce dismissed three workers, including two members of the summer strike committee, and the union says the company continues to refuse to reinstate them despite weeks of insistence and negotiation. The CGT reserves the right to take legal action on their behalf. It has called rallies at Terminal 1 on Mondays October 19, October 26 and November 2, from 11:00 to 14:00 local time, and says the protests will continue until the three workers are back in their jobs. These are protests, not a strike call.

With the strike withdrawn, the minimum-services order no longer governs Groundforce's check-in, boarding and flight coordination staff at both terminals. The CGT filed its strike notice on July 17, and Spain's Ministry of Transport set minimum services on July 29. Groundforce told the ministry the strike covered 1,179 workers at El Prat. The ministry estimated that Groundforce's airlines had about 11,600 flight movements and 2.4 million seats scheduled from the strike's start through September, and that about 2.0 million passengers could be affected.

The union said the dispute was about health and safety rather than money: understaffing, heavy workloads and high staff turnover. By August 18, the strike committee said about 270 flights had been affected and about 6,000 suitcases had not reached their destination. The CGT later paused the strike to allow talks, then restarted it in mid-September after Groundforce dismissed two strike-committee members; a second minimum-services order was issued to run from October 1 to November 30. No cancellation total for the whole strike was given.

Ground handling is a thin-margin, labour-intensive layer of airport operations, and a dispute framed around workloads, shift length and staff turnover rather than pay tends to be harder to settle with a single wage concession. The terms reported here, a ban on short split shifts, workload assessments in both terminals and reviews of hours and overtime, target working conditions directly. Their effect will show up only if the reviews actually change rosters at El Prat.

The cost of such a dispute falls well beyond the handler. Close to 20 airlines depend on one contractor's workforce, and the ministry's estimate of about 2.0 million passengers potentially affected shows how a single ground-handling stoppage reaches carriers with no seat at the bargaining table. Minimum-services orders limit the disruption but do not remove it, and the restart in September after the dismissals shows how a single personnel decision can reopen a dispute that had been paused for talks.

The next marker is the three dismissed workers. The Monday rallies on October 19, October 26 and November 2 are the dated points to follow, together with any legal action the CGT decides to bring. Publication of the agreement's full text would also let the reported terms be checked against what was signed.