British tourists visiting Majorca in the next few weeks could face the prospect of travel disruption to their summer holidays. Ground handling workers at Palma Airport could launch an indefinite strike from August 4. The action comes at one of the busiest times of the year, as hundreds of thousands of tourists flock to the popular tourist destination.

Services for several major airlines could also be impacted during the period. Industrial action has been initiated by the UGT union at Swissport, the company responsible for providing ground-handling services at the airport. The strike received approval from the company’s works council, where UGT holds a majority representation, and is expected to involve approximately 600 employees.

According to the UGT union, airlines that could experience operational disruption as a result of the strike include Condor, Sunclass, TUI Group, Air Canada, Etihad Airways, Alba Star and TAP Air Portugal.

The union argues that employees are working under precarious conditions and is seeking improvements to employment terms, including an increase in contracted hours for staff currently working fewer than 40 hours per week.

UGT is also calling for negotiations to address irregular shift patterns, particularly those affecting older workers, as well as measures to reduce the reliance on overtime and additional hours worked by part-time employees.

In addition, the union is demanding the introduction of a compensation allowance for excessive workloads and work-related stress, guaranteed entitlement to two consecutive days off each week, and the installation of air conditioning in all staff vehicles.

Unless an agreement is reached between the parties, the industrial action is scheduled to continue indefinitely from August 4 onward.

Palma Airport added in a statement: “Thanks to the minimum service decrees, widespread cancellations are unlikely. The most realistic impact for passengers will be longer waiting times and potential operational bottlenecks.”

Passengers may experience delays at several stages of their journey, including at check-in and bag-drop counters before departure, boarding gates during planned morning and evening walkouts, and baggage reclaim areas upon arrival, as the unloading of luggage from aircraft could take longer than normal.

Air passenger rights organisation AirHelp has advised travellers to prepare for potential disruption, citing its own data which indicates that nearly two in five passengers using the airport between 1 May and 23 July were already affected by flight delays or cancellations.

It said the strain on infrastructure “highlighted the potential impact further disruption could have as schools break up and peak holiday travel gets underway”.