This Sunday has started a 10-day strike period among cabin crew (TCP) of Iberia Express summoned by the USO union, in a protest that demands salary improvements in the negotiation of the agreement, from which CCOO, the other central with representation in the company, has distanced itself.
The company has explained that will operate 93.2% of the flights scheduled between this Sunday and next August 31a period in which it has canceled 28 flights not included in the minimum services decreed by the Ministry of Transport.
After a failed attempt to bring positions closer this past Friday at the negotiating table of the II Iberia Express TCP Agreement, USO maintains the strike call until next September 6 for the 532 crew members of the airline.
The minimum services set by the Ministry of Transport are between 32% and 85% of services operated to or from Madrid by Iberia Express, Iberia’s low-cost subsidiary.
The convening union numbers 92 links based in Madrid-Barajas that will be suspended in the 10 days for which the stoppages are called, but airline sources specify that the suspensions from the 31st have not been decided yet.
Iberia Express points out that on the 28th and 29th will cancel one return flight per day with the Canary Islands, the Balearic Islands, Seville and Santiago; on the 29th one with Malaga (round trip); on the 30th, another round trip in each case with the Balearic Islands, Seville and Santiago, and on the 31st, another round trip with the Canary Islands and the Balearic Islands.
Of the 3,700 customers that the airline estimates will be affected by these cancellations, 3,000 have already been relocated to other flights and the rest are waiting to choose the option that suits them best (alternative transport, reimbursement, change of date or vouchers).
USO demands to adjust wages to the rise in the cost of living, since they have been frozen since 2015, according to their data, while the company defends that the union demands are “disproportionate” and would mean an increase in wage costs above 26 %.
CCOO distanced itself from this call and signed an agreement with the company while the agreement is being negotiated by which Iberia Express would pay all crew members an advance payment on account of the agreement of 1,350 euros for surcharges and 950 euros for TCP.