The airline will substitute workers if an agreement is not closed in the next few hours
MADRID, 2 Feb. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The airline Iberia is a few hours away from making the final decision on the new licenses for the ground assistance service (handling) at Spanish airports. For this reason, it appeals to the “responsibility” of its workers with the aim of signing an agreement that “guarantees the future of handling for the company and its workers,” according to an internal statement to which Europa Press had access.
The company has warned this Thursday that it will replace the ground service workers (‘handling’) at three of the airports that it lost in the Aena contest (Bilbao, Malaga and Alicante) in the new concessionaire companies if within a period of 24 hours an agreement is not signed with the unions.
In an internal statement sent this Thursday by the company, the airline warns that if an agreement is not signed with the union representatives in the next few hours this Friday it will announce without turning back that its workers at the Bilbao airports (where the transfer of the license is set for February 20), Málaga (February 21) and Alicante (February 28), will be subrogated to third parties.
The calendar established by the handling sector agreement to ensure the rights of workers in surrogacy establishes a margin of 21 to 28 days in these transmissions.
The company assures that the decision made will be “irreversible” so it defends that the only viable alternative is to sign the proposed agreement: the creation of a new company, 100% owned by the IAG group, with a majority of Iberia, endowed of sufficient competitiveness and that guarantees the profitability required by the group.
The airline has warned that tomorrow’s decision will be “irreversible.” In the internal document, the company insists that it is “essential” that everyone “assume their responsibility” and take “a step forward” to “build together a common project, present and future, viable, profitable and in which workers can continue to develop professionally and personally.
In the document, Iberia’s management wanted to clarify the current situation at the eight airports where handling licenses were lost in September in the Aena contest and assures that throughout the negotiation process it has shown itself to be “transparent and flexible.” both with the unions, as well as with the Government and the different administrations.
Iberia has insisted throughout the entire process on its “firm will and absolute determination” to put on the table a “viable, solid, competitive and profitable” alternative, which would allow all Iberia workers to be kept under the umbrella of the IAG group and avoid surrogacy, “despite having all the labor, salary and extra-salary rights and benefits guaranteed by the V Sector Agreement.”
In the new company, Iberia employees would maintain the conditions of the Iberia Agreement and retain their rights, including progression and seniority systems. Furthermore, the workers who join the new company would do so under the conditions established by the sector agreement.
Iberia accepts the repeated request of the unions and offers separation measures with significant improvements compared to the sector agreement, for a maximum of 1,727 employees until December 31, 2026 through incentivized dismissals or early retirements.
He also insists that “he would not cut his staff, he would renew it.” Thus, the workers who left voluntarily taking advantage of the separation measures that were closed with the unions “would be replaced based on the profitability and growth of the company.”
Finally, the airline would agree to sign an employment stability plan and the new company would have a new brand and “real and viable” possibilities to develop and expand nationally and internationally, with an eye on Europe and Latin America.
