Iberia has proposed to the unions to create a ground handling company 100% owned by IAG – the holding company to which it belongs – that would provide service to the entire group and guarantee that all workers would maintain the company's agreement, the airline has reported. In this way, it proposes a viability plan that includes redundancy measures for 1,727 people until December 31, 2026, through early retirements and incentivized redundancies.
This decision comes after the strike at the weekend of Reyes and after negotiating throughout last week with UGT and CCOO, which defend the need for handling workers to remain in the orbit of Iberia, despite the fact that it has lost the management of these services in eight of the main airports in the country (all the large ones except Barajas) in the tender resolved by Aena in September.
This result forced the workers to be substituted in the winning companies of the handling tenders at each of the airports it lost (Bilbao, Malaga, Alicante, Palma de Mallorca, Ibiza, Barcelona, Las Palmas and Tenerife South) but the unions want the staff to remain in Iberia. According to information from Iberia, with the creation of this company 100% owned by International Airlines Group (IAG) – which also includes Iberia, British Airways, Vueling, Aer Lingus and Level – all the rights of its workers are guaranteed because all employees would maintain the company's agreement.
Third-Party Services
According to information from Iberia, with the creation of this company, 100% owned by IAG, all the rights of its workers are guaranteed because the employees would maintain the company's agreement and would not become dependent on the operators that won the tender for the ramp service. The airline points out that since margins are tight in ground services, a large volume is needed that can only be achieved sustainably, providing services to third parties.
With this proposal, the staff of Iberia Airport Services (the handling subsidiary) would remain in this new company to provide the service to the entire IAG group. It could also offer services to third parties in passenger (counter staff), a segment that is liberalized, unlike the ramp (baggage management), which is the one that was resolved in the tender.
At the same time, Iberia is proposing a viability plan in this new company that includes redundancy measures for 1,727 people until 31 December 2026, through early retirement and incentivised redundancies for workers aged 56 and over. Iberia Airport Services has around 8,000 employees.
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