Balearic government to press charges against strikers

THE Balearic Minister for Tourism and Employment, Joana Barcelo, said yesterday that the Balearics government is going to be taking its own legal action against air traffic controllers who went on strike ten days ago.

With some of the victims joining forces across the country and demanding that the culprits have their assets seized by the authorities, Barcelo said yesterday that as a result of over 1'000 claims for compensation having been made here in the Balearics, stern and tough action needs to be taken in light of the severe consequences of the actions by the air traffic controllers who backed the wildcat strike. “We are obviously going to be giving all those sectors affected from the travelling public to business and the hotel sector our full support as a government” the Minister underlined. “It's a shame the opposition Partido Popular are not acting in the same manor,” she added.

The PP, however, maintain that the government reacted in a “disproportionate” way to the covert strike.
Balearic PP MP Gasper Oliver said yesterday that the government knew that the traffic controllers were planning something, a claim which has been made by a number of Spanish airline pilots over the past week.

That said, the Spanish government has been praised by neighbouring European governments for its swift and effective reaction to the industrial action which brought Spain to a close for 22 hours.