Spanish cabin crew and ground staff call off dispute

February 2, 2012

Cabin crew and ground workers at the Spanish airline Iberia have called off planned strike action after they reached a new deal with their airline employer, which extends employment guarantees.

Most of the unions representing cabin crew and ground staff – including the Union General de Trabajadores and the Confederación Sindical de Comisiones Obreras – reached a settlement with management at Iberia last week. They had been planning strike action on 3 February in a bid to gain job security guarantees following the establishment of new low cost carrier Iberia Express.

The company conceded to their demands and the workers will now benefit from employment guarantees until 31 December 2014, with a possible extension for a further year. In addition, the company has agreed to provide some temporary ground staff with fixed term contracts and guaranteed others a minimum number of hours’ work.

The union representing Iberia pilots have however, so far not reached a settlement; their proposed strike action went ahead on 27 and 30 January.

ITF civil aviation section secretary Gabriel Mocho said: “The best strike is the one that does not need to be carried out. We congratulate our colleagues in Iberia who developed a successful strategy; it has led to their interests being represented in the company’s future plans.”