Spain’s Audiencia Nacional has provisionally suspended the Airbus España ballot scheduled for 24 and 25 September, putting on hold a vote that was meant to test worker backing for a pre-agreement aimed at ending industrial unrest. The decision affects Airbus’s Spanish operations, including major sites at Getafe, Sevilla, Illescas, Albacete and Cádiz, and leaves the timetable for resolving the dispute uncertain for the group’s roughly 14,000 employees in the country.
The court accepted an urgent precautionary request from the CGT union, which argued that Airbus had called the referendum while a hearing on interim measures was already set for 24 September. The union also contended that proceeding with the ballot could affect strike rights and the handling of the wider collective-conflict case. The suspension is temporary rather than a ruling on the merits, meaning the vote remains paused pending the court hearing.
The ballot was tied to a labour pre-agreement reached with mediation from Spain’s Ministry of Industry and Tourism and was intended to help settle a dispute that has already involved strikes and pauses in mobilisation. Any delay extends uncertainty over wages, working conditions and operational stability across Airbus’s industrial footprint in Spain.