The workforce at Airbus in Spain voted by a clear majority on 31 August 2026 to continue the indefinite strike that began at the end of August. At workforce meetings, 81.2 per cent voted against the temporary suspension of the walkouts requested by the company, according to the unions; 16.4 per cent voted in favour and 2.4 per cent abstained. The decision applies to all the company’s Spanish sites.
Getafe therefore remains the main focus of the mobilisation. The sites in Seville are also following the vote. The plants in Albacete and Cádiz did not take part in the ballot, but announced that they would follow the majority decision. The exception is Illescas: there, the workforce had most recently voted for a temporary pause in the strikes. Airbus employs around 14,000 people in Spain, about 9,000 of them in Getafe.
The dispute was triggered by workers’ complaints about the loss of purchasing power and disagreement over the future arrangements for remote working. Airbus has offered pay rises and indicated that it would retain existing work-from-home arrangements. However, management made the continuation of negotiations conditional on suspending the strikes. The unions, by contrast, point to the clear mandate from the workforce to maintain the pressure.
A further mediation session is scheduled for Tuesday, 1 September 2026, at the government conciliation service SIMA . The parties intend to clarify outstanding issues there, including the scale and duration of possible pay rises and clear, reliable rules for remote working. The unions representing workers are CGT, UGT and ÚTIL. There are differing tactics within the employee representatives over whether and when to suspend the walkouts; Monday’s decision currently strengthens the position that negotiations should proceed without interrupting the strikes.
The impact of the industrial action remains difficult to assess for now. Airbus is part of international supply chains, and delays could affect production and delivery schedules. No specific figures for production losses or financial effects were available on Monday. Both sides say they are generally willing to negotiate. What happens next will depend on possible progress in mediation and on the workforce’s next decisions.
Editor: Daniel Mayer (Article created with AI assistance).