Iberia cabin crew call off strike after agreement

Iberia on Wednesday signed an agreement with the representatives of its 4,000 cabin crew guaranteeing job security after the launch of its low-cost short-to-medium-haul carrier Iberia Express.

As a result, the cabin crews union called off an indefinite stoppage that was due to commence next month. Iberia reached a similar agreement with ground staff on Friday.

Workers had expressed fears of job losses resulting from the creation of Iberia Express, which is due to be launched on March 25.

The airline's pilots, however, held their fifth one-day stoppage on Wednesday to protest the creation of Iberia Express. Iberia said its operations had run smoothly as a result of the contingency plans it had made to deal with canceled flights. It said about two-thirds of flights had operated normally. The pilots are due to hold further stoppages on Friday and next Monday.

The pilots union Sepla on Wednesday accused the management of Iberia of acting in bad faith in their negotiations aimed at finding a solution to the conflict.

The chairman of Sepla, Justo Peral, claimed Iberia was "putting on a show" for the media by sitting down for talks they were not interested in. "They seem to be negotiating, but isn't true. There's never any proposals," he said. He also accused the company of canceling more flights.