The Diplomat
The Iberia airline puts an end to the handling conflict after signing with the UGT and CC.OO unions. an agreement for the creation of a new company whose main activity will be the provision of ground handling services, both to third parties and its own, at the airports where Iberia obtained the license and at the eight where it lost it.
The pact signed ‘in extremis’, and which protects the current and future working and salary conditions of the workers, also includes a voluntary ERE for a total of 1,727 people, Europa Press reports.
The airline has accepted the unions’ request for a workforce renewal through incentivized voluntary departures, as well as the signing of an employment stability plan. The company has thanked the unions for the “exercise of responsibility” carried out, which has finally allowed it to take that “historic step” in handling in Spain.
For the president and CEO of Iberia, Fernando Candela, the agreement reached with the unions is a great benefit for both parties. “We all win and together with the workers we take a historic step forward in the handling business in Spain,” he says in a video, in which he states that “the new handling company guarantees the viability and competitiveness of the business.”
For the airline, this agreement guarantees “a sustainable, competitive and profitable future for the handling business and a stable framework, under the umbrella of IAG and with a majority of Iberia, for its workers.”
“We have all been able to generate an opportunity where there was a crisis. The new handling company guarantees the viability and competitiveness of the business and also ensures that Iberia workers continue to develop professionally and personally within the IAG Group,” says the president of Iberia.
A new 100% IAG company
This new company will be 100% owned by the IAG group, with a majority of Iberia and a new brand, and will have a vocation for both national and international growth. All airport employees from all work centers will become part of the new company.
All Iberia employees maintain the conditions of the Iberia agreement and retain their rights, including progression and seniority systems, and new workers who join the new company will do so under the sector agreement.
“The principle that has guided this agreement has been, from the first moment, to safeguard those conditions that Iberia workers have above the conditions specified in the sector agreement,” the unions say in a statement made public yesterday.
Thanks to the agreement reached between the company and the unions, the new company will provide ground assistance services for IAG Group companies and will also provide services to third-party companies, on ramp and/or passage.
This means that it will be able to have a presence in all airports and work as a network, which will allow it to achieve the necessary business volume, at market prices, to have sustainable income and possibilities for national and international growth.
Negotiate a voluntary ERE
Likewise, the company has announced an economic item, the figure of which is unknown, with which to negotiate a voluntary ERE that will affect 1,727 people who are over 56 years old and that will be valid until December 31, 2026.
Iberia insists that it is not cutting its workforce, but rather renewing it and agreeing to sign an employment stability plan. Likewise, a Vocational Training Center of Excellence will be created for handling professionals, located at the La Muñoza headquarters, next to the Adolfo Suárez-Madrid Barajas airport.
The unions assure that the result “is the best possible in the circumstances in which this negotiation has been carried out.” In the coming days there will be a more detailed presentation of the aspects of the agreement signed yesterday.
