Spanish Airport Workers Back on Job

The Spanish government is using its military to get protesting air-traffic controllers back to work. Since Friday, the country’s air space has been effectively shut down as the traffic controllers went on strike, stranding hundreds of thousands of travelers. Spain’s aviation agency, Aena, tweeted that Madrid’s Barajas Airport would be operating at 30 percent capacity by Saturday morning. Government officials announced an emergency meeting after the strike went into effect. Deputy Prime Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba announced that he placed the air-traffic controllers under military authority shortly after the meeting. Thus far, 11 out of 15 workers have returned to Barcelona’s airport.