Spain: Iberia Pilots Plan New Strike This Month
By KUNA
The pilots union of Spanish Airline (Iberia) said on Friday that they plan to strike for three days in the upcoming weeks amid ongoing protest against plans by the company to establish a new low budget aviation company, called Iberia Express.
In a statement by SEPLA, the pilots union which represent 20,000 of Spanish airline Iberia (IAG)’s ground and cabin staff, said that they “will propose next week a plan to strike, in particular on January 25-27-30th, in protest against the company’s board decision of breaching previously signed agreement between the two sides.”
“The union want Iberia to extend employment guarantees until the end of 2015 after setting up the lower-cost unit Iberia Express this year,” the statement said.
Last night, Iberia said it has canceled 104 flights during a one-day strike by pilots protesting the company’s planned new budget carrier.
The company said it has rescheduled flights for most of the estimated 10, 000 passengers on long-haul, medium-haul and domestic flights affected by Wednesday’s strike.
The unions also noted that the creation of the Iberia Express budget airline will lead to job losses among the company’s 1,600 pilots.
Iberia Express is to be launched this year and take over many loss-making domestic and medium-haul routes. It will employ newly-hired, lower-earning pilots and attendants.
