Pilots and ground staff involved in strike action

On 10 July 2006, Iberia pilots went on strike in a bid to guarantee their jobs and working conditions, after the company announced plans to establish a new low-cost airline. On 28 July, the ground staff occupied the runway of Barcelona Airport for six hours, demanding that their jobs be maintained.

Background

Spain’s national airline, Iberia, has been suffering from an economic crisis and decreasing passenger numbers for many years, mainly due to the emergence of increasingly successful low-cost airlines. The company has therefore decided to cooperate with four partners in creating a low-cost carrier, Catair, based at El Prat Airport in Barcelona.

Pilots’ strike

The announcement of the creation of Catair led the Spanish Airline Pilots’ Trade Union (Sindicato Español de Pilotos de Líneas Aéreas, SEPLA) to call a one-week strike, starting on 10 July 2006, following its tradition of taking industrial action in the holiday period (ES9802246N, ES9904216N). The aim of the strike was to compel Iberia to guarantee the jobs, pay and working conditions of the pilots in the new organisational situation.

At a meeting with Iberia on the first day of the strike, the pilots rejected a first proposal from the company on the grounds that it provided no new measures and that the meeting had not been attended by senior executives of Iberia. However, the strike was called off on 12 July after steps were taken to declare the protest action illegal; as a result, the pilots accepted the initial proposal, which had been resubmitted by the company on 11 July. Thus, the further disruption of 240 flights a day was averted.

Government intervention

The proposal provided for the creation of a commission to monitor the agreement, under the supervision of the Ministry of Public Works (Ministerio de Fomento). The Minister of Public Works, Magdalena Álvarez Arza, considered that government intervention was necessary to solve this dispute.

Ground staff protest

On the morning of 28 July 2006, the ground staff of El Prat Airport in Barcelona attended a meeting called by the Trade Union Confederation of Workers’ Commissions (Confederación Sindical de Comisiones Obreras, CC.OO) and the General Workers’ Confederation (Unión General de Trabajadores, UGT) – which are the majority trade unions on the workers’ committee – and the General Confederation of Labour (Confederación General del Trabajo, CGT). The aim was to show their concern about the jobs of 2,000 employees, after Iberia lost the handling contract at El Prat Airport awarded by Spanish Airports and Air Navigation (Aeropuertos Españoles y Navegación Aérea, AENA) – the public organisation responsible for airport management. The meeting resulted in the spontaneous occupation of the runways, which paralysed air traffic and resulted in the cancellation of over 500 flights and a large amount of lost luggage.

Company agrees to certain commitments

At a meeting between the works council and Iberia on 3 August, the company agreed to the following commitments:

• to request the awarding of the handling at El Prat Airport;

• to manage any redundancies through voluntary pre-retirement and voluntary geographic mobility;

• to maintain VIP lounge services and crew services within the airline’s operations, rather than subcontracting this work.

Trade union statement

A joint statement by CC.OO, UGT and the Workers’ Trade Union (Unión Sindical Obrera, USO) accepted that the occupation of the runways was inappropriate, because it affected other persons who were not party to the dispute; however, they emphasised that the spontaneous protest resulted from the failure of the government and Iberia to publicly acknowledge the loss of the handling services’ contract. Furthermore, CGT claimed that a protest made to AENA and Iberia had remained unanswered.

Consequences

Legal action has been taken for offences against the air safety regulations and for unlawfully detaining the travelling public, which may lead to prison sentences if the persons responsible are identified. On this occasion, the government considers that the dispute is private but that both Iberia and the company’s workers are responsible for the damage caused to the general public during the dispute. The company regards industrial relations as an internal matter, but claims that it will compensate any traveller who was affected by the protest action.

Martí López, QUIT, University Autònoma of Barcelona (UAB)