Iberia closes its conflict with the unions and transfers the handling business to its parent company

CÉSAR URRUTIA MADRID

MADRID

Updated Friday, February 2, 2024-15:13

Iberia and the unions representing its ground services have reached an agreement by which, at the last moment, they have avoided the triggering of a

strong social conflict

with consequences for passengers and the company much worse than those experienced at the beginning of the past. month of January.

The airline yesterday gave the workers

an ultimatum to accept their job offer,

warning them by letter that if they did not support it the situation would lead them to take over as staff from the companies that won the

handling contests at eight airports. If the nearly 4,000

affected workers refused to be transferred to other staff with worse working conditions than those achieved in recent decades in Iberia, the company indicated that it could not assume the costs of providing handling services to itself.

Finally, the company announced just a few minutes ago that it had reached an agreement with the workers' representation that avoids the conflict. The formula of the agreement will be the creation of a new company,

"100% owned by the IAG group, with a majority of Iberia and a new brand

", with a vocation for national and international growth that will include the entire handling workforce,

some 8,000 workers.

This company will provide ground assistance services for IAG Group companies

(Iberia, Vueling, Iberia Express and Level in Spain

) and will also provide services to third-party companies, on ramp and/or passage.

All airport employees from all work centers will become part of the new company, not just those from the airports where the license was lost. The staff of the new company will be divided into two groups: one will maintain the conditions of the Iberia agreement and retain their rights, including the progression and seniority systems, while the new workers who join the new company will do so with the Iberia agreement. sector, which is the one maintained by the majority of the companies that have taken the competitions from Iberia and, also, the one that the airline's workers reject.

The change of company will be the opportunity to apply a restructuring through

voluntary separation measures with improvements over those included in the Sector Agreement, for 1,727 employees

until December 31, 2026 through incentivized dismissals and voluntary early retirements.