The UGT and CCOO unions have announced this Friday four days of strike in Iberia's handling (ground service), for January 5, 6, 7 and 8, a call that the company considers "unjustified" because it has made an "ambitious" offer for workers in this sector.
Last Wednesday, the plants suspended a previous strike announcement - which also extended to December 29 to 31 - to continue negotiating with the company, with the presence of the Ministry of Transport. This forum, however, has not reached any agreement and the unions have reactivated the protest for January 5 to 8.
The protest comes after Iberia lost the handling service at eight of the country's main airports (Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca, Málaga, Alicante, Gran Canaria, Tenerife South, Ibiza and Bilbao), although it kept Madrid, in the contest resolved by Aena in September. This forces the workers at each of the airports where Iberia will stop operating to be subrogated to the winning companies in each location (Groundforce, from Globalia, Aviapartners and Menzies).
The unions do not want this subrogation because it means leaving the Iberia umbrella, although they are protected by the sector agreement, and they ask that Iberia do 'autohandling' for all the companies of the IAG group - to which it belongs along with British Airways, Vueling, Aer Lingus and Level-. Iberia has proposed creating a "hybrid" model owned by an IAG Group company, "even exploring the possibility of this vehicle being 100% owned by the group at airports where it made sense", which would carry out the handling for all airlines in IAG in the eight airports, as explained in a note.
The unions do not accept this 'joint venture' with a new company not owned by Iberia, "without applying the current Iberia agreement and assuming responsibility for the workers' costs" and ask that a company 100% owned by Iberia manage the 'autohandling' for the IAG group. The unions ask for a viability plan for Iberia's handling business; solutions for the eight affected airports, in which workers must be covered by the Iberia agreement, and an agreed ERE if there are surplus staff. The company rules out 'autohandling' because, according to its defense, it has higher costs than contracting it with third parties and would lead to it losing positions with its competitors.
The airline insists that all jobs in ground services at the eight airports are guaranteed by subrogation, so there is no destruction of employment or direct elimination of jobs, in addition to ensuring working conditions. agreed.
The unions have explained that a representative of the Ministry of Transport proposed alternatives on which to establish new negotiation channels and try to reach an agreement for airport workers affected by the loss of handling licenses. Iberia's airport services subsidiary has 8,000 workers, of which 4,300 would be affected by subrogation and, of them, the bulk (about 1,900) at Barcelona airport.
