Today the Spanish government has decided to submit to arbitration the longstanding conflict between IBERIA LAE (owned by the International Airlines Group – IAG) and its pilots represented by SEPLA. The conflict started over IBERIA’s controversial and unilateral plan to outsource Iberia mainline workers’ jobs to the new low-cost subsidiary Iberia Express. ECA hopes that arbitration will bring a fair solution to this conflict. ECA supports SEPLA in their continued efforts to contribute to finding viable business solutions for their airline while preserving the pilots’ career prospects.
This government intervention is an important step towards a resolution of a highly unfortunate situation which theIAG/Iberia management has created by their decision to ignore the legally-binding agreement with SEPLA which safeguards the jobs and career prospects of Iberia pilots in Iberia and in any other subsidiary or new company of the IBERIA group.
The Spanish Airline Pilots’ Association, SEPLA, has been trying to work with IAG and Iberia and it is dismayed to see the company rejected an independently-audited alternative proposal which would have addressed the company’s concerns about employment costs by introducing significantly lower rates of pay for new pilots, additional productivity efforts, while recognizing the role and experience of Iberia’s current flight crew.
“The most successful airlines understand the value of actively engaging with their employees” says Nico Voorbach, ECA President. He adds: “Outsourcing jobs runs completely counter to that proven approach. Having just settled the damaging and very costly BA cabin crew dispute, the last thing the Group needs is a costly and unnecessary industrial dispute with its Spanish pilots. At the end of the day, IAG will achieve much more by working with their Spanish pilots rather than against them. We hope that IAG, as it grows, will generate benefits for its customers, shareholders and staff together.”
For further information, please contact:
Philip von Schöppenthau, ECA Secretary General, Tel: +32 2 705 32 93
Nico Voorbach, ECA President, Tel: +32 491 378 982
Download the Press Release here.
