According to a unions representing National Police officers based at Alicante-Elche airport, security at the international facility has reached a point of “historical” bankruptcy .
In a collective statement, the Unión Federal de Policía (UFP), Confederación Española de Policía (CEP) and Sindicato Unificado de Policía (SUP) have provided statistics of the number of officers who have been either incapacitated or face unacceptable working conditions, for “psychological” reasons.
According to the statement, half of the airport’s officers, who collectively make up 3.86% of the total force stationed in the province of Alicante, have asked for transfers from the airport for this reason.
Officers have presented symptoms of exhaustion, and almost 70% report that their moods are “near-tension” on account of having to work at the airport, in fact, according to the statement, more than a third of the workforce attribute the situation to “professional burnout”.
The unions state that the data has revealed a “very serious trend” that began in 2017, in which the losses through transfer or sickness increased by 500% in relation to the figures of 2016. At that time, the reports pointed to “internal problems” as a possible source of this rate of work absenteeism. This was confirmed by 83% of the cases analysed. Between January and November of 2018, 12 cases of absenteeism have been registered , “half of them, in the last ten days,” according to the statement.
The unions have therefore denounced that the management of Alicante-Elche Airport which they say is “marked by the controversy and the unstoppable deterioration of the work climate”. The trade union organisations will request “urgent measures” from the Ministry of the Interior and the General Directorate of the Police to alleviate “the increase in psychological losses, their disproportionate percentage with respect to the total of the province and the prolongation in time of this situation”.
Amongst many behind the scenes security functions, the National Police monitor passport control and the border points at the airport. Some of these functions have been supported by the introduction of automated passport control gates recently.
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