booking trustworthy: Going to Mobile World Congress? Public transport strike could make things interesting

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Going to Mobile World Congress? Public transport strike could make things interesting

This is a little bit of inside baseball for most people, but our trip to Mobile World Congress next week in Barcelona could get a little interesting. The main public transportation union there is threatening to strike on all us mobile nerds, meaning we conceivably could have to hoof it through the city for a week. (Or take cabs. But have you seen the Dollar lately?)

Here's the latest from the GSMA, which puts on Mobile World Congress:

The metro and bus workers from TMB, the main public transport operator in the metropolitan area of Barcelona, have announced plans to strike during Mobile World Congress which will be held 27th February through 1st March 2012.

The GSMA has senior executives in Barcelona and they have been meeting regularly with government officials from the City of Barcelona, Catalonia Regional Government, Spanish Ministry of Industry, the Fira and the various police authorities since the strike was first announced. The GSMA has advised the government authorities that they should do everything to avert the strike and we have been assured that negotiations are ongoing in order to try and resolve the issues.

In the event the parties do not reach agreement, comprehensive contingency plans are in place to ensure that all participants of the Mobile World Congress have unfettered access to and from the Fira during all days of the event. We will announce the details of those contingency plans as necessary should the strike take place. The GSMA remains confident that the issues will be resolved and that there will be little, if any, impact to the Mobile World Congress.

Further, the Barcelona government has offered the GSMA its strong assurances that Mobile World Congress attendees will not be affected and all participants will be able to arrive and depart the event safely and without disruption.

Try not to worry about us too much. We'll make do.