Iberia unions call off pre-Christmas strikes out of “respect” for travelers

Iberia’s labor unions have called off a series of one-day stoppages ahead of the Christmas holiday period “out of respect for people,” despite failing to reach agreement with the airline’s management on planned layoffs, union sources said Monday.

Cabin and ground staff were set to walk off the job on December 14, followed by strikes every day in the period December 17-21. The pilots’ union Sepla was not planning to adhere to the stoppages as it is still awaiting an arbitrator’s ruling on its dispute with the management over the creation of the group’s low-cost airline Iberia Express earlier this year.

Loss-making Iberia plans to sack some 4,500 workers, or about 23 percent of its workforce, as well as reducing capacity in a bid to turn the company around. Labor unions claim the restructuring plan is a covert ploy by British Airways to run down its merger partner Iberia and get hold of its assets cheaply.

A number of government ministers had urged the unions not to proceed with the Christmas stoppages in order not to harm the image of Spain.

The decision to call off the stoppages followed a meeting Monday between union and management representatives that failed to breach differences over the layoff plan. Labor leaders also want to see a growth plan for the airline.

Willie Walsh, the chief executive of BA and Iberia’s holding company International Airlines Group (IAG), on Sunday said that Iberia would undergo restructuring regardless of any industrial action.

“Iberia will be restructured and that process will be completed in the New Year,” Walsh said in Seoul on the occasion of the renewal of BA flights to the South Korean capital after a 14-year hiatus.

“It will be a much more competitive airline and when the economic environment improves it will be well positioned.

“I am not concerned about strike action. I think it is mad because going on strike only reduces the cash available to rebuild the business. It won’t discourage us,” he added.

IAG has warned that if there is no agreement on the overhaul of the airline by the end of January, the company will take even more “drastic” unilateral action to turn the airline around.

Apart from the layoffs, the restructuring plan also calls for 25-percent cuts to the number of routes Iberia currently operates as well as salary reductions of an average of 25 to 35 percent.

Iberia booked an operating loss of 262 million euros in the first nine months of this year. British Airways by contrast booked a profit of 285 million euros in the same period.

Iberia announced last Friday that it would cut routes to Athens, Cairo and Istanbul from the middle of January and to Santo Domingo and Havana from April 1. It has also halted direct flights to San Juan, Puerto Rico and Montevideo, Uruguay.