The indefinite strike of Airbus in Spain continues this Wednesday, while management and worker representatives try to find a way out of one of the largest recent labor conflicts of the aerospace manufacturer in the country. UGT, CGT, and ÚTIL maintain the call after the workers rejected the company's latest proposal.
The strike affects strategic centers such as Getafe, Illescas, Albacete, San Pablo, and Tablada, although the conflict also reaches the facilities in Cádiz. The unions have reported very high follow-ups in some plants, and UGT stated that during the first day the stoppage was "almost total" in the Andalusian centers.
The conflict also comes at a time of strong activity for the manufacturer. Airbus closed the first half of 2026 with 33.176 billion euros in revenue, 12% more, and 2.243 billion in net profit, 47% above the same period in 2025. The company delivered 351 commercial aircraft and had a backlog of 9,222 aircraft at the end of June.
What Airbus workers are demanding
The demands cover both salaries and working conditions. One of the main points is the recovery of purchasing power, after the workforce deemed the previous proposals insufficient. Airbus has made progress in this regard and now proposes a raise linked to the real CPI plus a supplement that allows for a total increase of 5% between 2026 and 2027. Negotiations are still pending on what will happen between 2028 and 2030.
The telecommuting has been another major focus of the conflict. The company had promoted greater presence, but the protests led Airbus to backtrack and maintain the current model, including the two days of remote work contemplated in certain individual agreements.
Also on the table are vacations, entry and exit flexibility, collective transport routes, and the price of the cafeteria. Airbus proposes to establish specific commissions to address some of these issues, but the unions demand sufficiently concrete commitments and believe that the objectives that led to the strike have still not been reached.
Airbus concedes on medical leave discounts
One of the most concrete movements of the company affects workers who are on leave. Airbus presented on August 24 the withdrawal of its appeal before the Supreme Court regarding the supplements for temporary incapacity and has committed to refunding the amounts that had been deducted.
Company and workers must also negotiate an alternative system to address absenteeism. According to the proposal communicated by UGT, the new mechanism will not count absences due to illness, accident, or sanction.
Despite these advances, the strike continues because the disagreement is broader. The organizers demand that unilaterally adopted business decisions be reversed, that existing legal and conventional obligations be respected, and that negotiations lead to concrete commitments.
What impact is the Airbus strike having
The first effect is occurring in the plants themselves. UGT assured on Tuesday that activity was practically paralyzed in Seville and described the adherence as "almost total" in the affected Andalusian centers.
That does not mean that Airbus's global production is paralyzed. Previous mobilizations had not affected global production, but the conflict has now entered a new phase with an indefinite strike, so its prolongation increases the industrial risk.
Airbus itself acknowledges that risk. The company is assessing the impact that the strike may have on its production obligations, agreements with clients, institutional commitments, and reputation, and considers it "critical" to reach an agreement to safeguard the industrial project in Spain.
Why a strike in Spain can affect Airbus outside the country
The Spanish plants are part of a European industrial chain in which different centers produce and assemble components that are later integrated into the manufacturer's programs. A prolonged interruption can, therefore, cease to be an exclusively Spanish problem if it begins to hinder the supply of parts and structures to other facilities.
The risk takes on special relevance because Airbus is trying to increase its production to meet an extraordinarily high order book. As of June 30, it had accumulated 9,222 commercial aircraft pending delivery and during the first six months of the year had received 821 net orders.
For now, however, there is no data that allows us to affirm that the Spanish strike is causing widespread delays in international deliveries. The accredited impact is concentrated in the affected plants and the risk to the entire chain will especially depend on how long the conflict lasts.
The threat to new hires
The third day of the strike has added a new element. According to representatives of the workers, Airbus has suggested that it could suspend the planned hires in Spain if the strike continues. The unions interpret this possibility as a pressure measure during the negotiation.
The warning is particularly significant because it directly confronts the labor conflict with the future growth of the Spanish plants. Airbus is in the midst of increased activity and the group had, at the end of June, 168,754 workers worldwide, 2% more than at the end of 2025.
It is worth noting, however, to distinguish between a warning during the talks and an executed decision. At this time, there is no evidence that Airbus has formally announced a general cancellation of new hires in Spain.
Airbus earns 47% more while the conflict continues
The negotiation takes place with particularly favorable accounts for the group. The 2.243 billion euros in net profit obtained between January and June represents a 47% year-on-year increase, while the adjusted operating result reached 2.727 billion, 24% more.
The unions use Airbus's economic situation as an argument to demand improvements after years in which they believe the workforce has lost purchasing power and certain working conditions. The management, for its part, maintains that its latest proposals already incorporate a good part of the demands that originated the protests.
The confrontation is thus at a decisive moment: Airbus is generating more revenue and profits and needs to increase its production, while a significant part of its Spanish workforce is maintaining an indefinite strike to demand salary and labor improvements.
The next meeting will be this Thursday
The negotiation on Tuesday at the Interconfederal Mediation and Arbitration Service (SIMA) ended without a definitive agreement. Airbus presented a document with more detail on some of its proposals, but the representatives of the workers demanded new clarifications.
The meeting has been postponed until this Thursday, August 27 at 9:30 AM. It will be a particularly important meeting because the strike will continue as long as the parties do not manage to reach an agreement that receives the support of the workers.
Until then, the main question is not only how long the mobilization will last, but when it will begin to significantly affect production. There is currently no evidence of a global shutdown of Airbus, but each additional day increases the pressure on Spanish factories integrated into a European production chain that works to respond to a backlog of more than 9,000 aircraft pending delivery.