The conflict over the change in handling services at Spanish airports is turning against Iberia and, if there is no agreement to remedy it, travelers will pay for it at Christmas. UGT and CCOO have announced that they will call a strike in Iberia on December 29, 30 and 31 and January 1, 4, 5, 6 and 7 due to the company’s refusal to create autohandling, a call that the airline considers “irresponsible “.
In an internal statement to which Europa Press has had access, the unions report different meetings with Iberia and IAG in which the company has not agreed to create an autohandling that provides service to the group’s airlines.
The problem in the largest airline in Spain and the main company in airports like Barajas is that its proposal to renew with Aena the award of handling services was surpassed by those of competitors in eight airports in the network, including El Prat. , in Barcelona. While the workers called a strike against Aena, Iberia demanded the bankruptcy of the airport manager before the Administrative Court, which rejected it. Iberia has moved its challenge to the contest to the National Court but the resolution may take more than a year and in the meantime, the workers at the affected airports must be subrogated to the working conditions of the winning companies.
The transfer of services must take place in these weeks, so the unions have decided to call this strike for the Christmas season, which will be registered over the next few hours.
For its part, the company has issued a statement in which it shows “its enormous disappointment” at this “irresponsible call”, since it claims to have been in continuous contact with the social agents since the Aena handling tender was resolved, the last September 26, to “satisfy the main concerns of its workers.”
Iberia considers that a strike called on these dates “irreparably damages the right to vacation and the reunification of families and friends” in an “irresponsible and meaningless” manner.
According to the company, “a strike is called to defend the rights” of the workers, but in this case “no one is minimally affected or threatened,” since they are protected by the V collective agreement for ground services, signed by all unions.
Iberia workers whose workplace was one of the airports where they lost their license, according to the collective agreement, would be subrogated to the new company awarded the Aena tender and will be guaranteed the maintenance of their salary, current working hours and vacation days, seniority, same contract, salary review, rights acquired in the use of airline tickets and pension plans.
Therefore, according to Iberia, “the new situation caused by the resolution of Aena’s handling contests does not put a single job of a single Iberia worker at risk.”
For the airline, this call breaks the “constructive dialogue” that it has maintained in recent weeks with union representatives to find a “hybrid and viable” solution.
Within the framework of this dialogue, Iberia has explained to the unions that self-handling and partial subrogation is not a viable solution since older people and, therefore, with higher salaries would remain in the group.
