Aena cannot find any company willing to take over the management of the new establishment
It may seem like a bargain, but the truth is that Aena cannot find any company willing to take over the management of the new cafeteria at Palma airport. Workers have been without service since March. The old cafeteria closed six months ago. It has been demolished as part of the renovation and expansion work being carried out at the airport.
Whereas before workers paid around €12 for a set menu (including dessert and water), they are now forced to pay the same prices as tourists. Last June, the UGT union reported that some employees are being penalized by their companies for leaving the premises to eat at affordable prices.
“We improved the conditions of the tender to make it more attractive, after the successful bidder was unable to start the service because it had to take on the significant debt left by its predecessor, who had been occupying the premises for almost three years without a contract and, therefore, operating irregularly, leaving a significant debt, not only to the various public administrations, but also to Aena,” explained sources from the airport authority.
Following the withdrawal of the first successful bidder, the new improved tender was declared void. “Aena is looking for possible solutions and regrets the situation and the inconvenience it is causing to the workers, who have been offered alternative catering options,” it added. It does not know when the new tender will be issued.
The “catering alternatives” it refers to do not convince the employees. Some 11,000 people from around 400 companies work at Palma airport. “Paying retail prices for a meal is daylight robbery,” says the secretary of the Airwings works council.
“There are about 300 of us working in the ramp area, but the lack of a canteen mainly affects air and ground staff, who often work split shifts and used to go to the old canteen to have a coffee and rest between shifts,” explains Marcos Fernández.
Eurowings has set up a rest area with microwaves, refrigerators, and coffee machines, but workers complain that with shifts starting at 6 a.m. in some cases, they do not have time to prepare food before coming in.
“It’s true that we have a room where they can have a coffee and heat up their food, but most of them bring Tupperware if they start at 6 a.m. with a split shift. What time do you have to get up to prepare your food? It’s not feasible,” explains the secretary of the works council.
Marcos Fernández, secretary of the Eurowing works council, has now joined the protests. “It costs us money to work. Most workers earn between €1,300 and €1,400 a month, and our salary is not enough to pay for a tourist-priced meal,” he says.
The grand opening of the new McDonald’s, the largest in the chain in Europe, has been the last straw.“We’ve been without a canteen for almost a year. It was closed because it was going to be demolished and a new one had to be built in module A. The McDonald’s has opened, but the canteen hasn’t, we don’t know if it’s a matter of concessions,” he laments.The workers’ suspicions are well-founded. Aena has already put the Palma airport canteen out to tender twice, the second time including improvements to make the concession more attractive, but all attempts to award the service have been in vain.