2023-12-13 21:22:42
The unions UGT and CCOO have called eight days of strike in Iberiain the middle of Christmas, in protest because the company, they say, does not accept the provision of the “autohandling” (ground service provided by the company itself) in those airports where it lost the competition called by Aena.
Union sources said on Wednesday that the stoppages would take place within days December 29, 30 and 31 and January 1, 4, 5, 6 and 7coinciding with the critical New Year and Kings dates.
Iberia has shown in a note its “huge disappointment” in the face of the “irresponsible” strike call, “in full swing negotiation of a viable solution per al handling”.
According to separate communications from UGT and CCOO, after different meetings with Iberia and IAG (the group to which the Spanish company belongs along with British Airways, Vueling, Aer Lingus and Level), the holding continues to not accept the creation of an “autohandling” that it serves all the airlines of the group in the airports in which it did not obtain a license.
Iberia says that workers will not lose rights
On September 26, Aena announced the result of the competition, which it left to Iberia out of service to third parties in some of the main airports in the country (Barcelona, Palma, Malaga, Alicante, Gran Canaria, Tenerife South, Ibiza and Bilbao), although he maintained Madrid.
Iberia recalls in its note that it undertook legal actions to request the annulment of the competition and, in parallel, has worked “intensely” with the unions to find a solution.
The airline adds that, by virtue of the V Agreement of the ground assistance sector, the subrogation of workers to the winning companies of the competition would be carried out with the guarantee that all of them they will retain their rights in fulltheir employment, salary and extra-salary concepts, including the plane tickets they enjoy as Iberia employees.
He also points out that it is difficult to carry out “autohandling” in the airports where he lost his license, since it would mean “serious damage to the competitiveness of the company and of all IAG airlines, with its consequent economic impact, and with the unsalvageable medium-term doom of this business.”
Iberia has explained in this process to the unions that “autohandling” and the partial surrogacy is not a viable solution because it would assume that the people with the most seniority and, therefore, those with the highest salaries, would remain in the group.
This means that the operators awarded the tender would have the staff with the lowest salary costs, so they could offer much more competitive prices than those that can be achieved through “autohandling” and would create a competitive gap between the main Spanish airlines and the international operators who won the competition.
Iberia explains that it has never done “autohandling” at the airports in which it operates, but has always opted to contract the services of third parties.
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