The Iberia handling strike continues. After the serious incidents that occurred last Sunday, when up to 1,200 suitcases were left on the ground on the blackest day of the protest, some have suggested that the strike is taking place practically every day of the week. Although officially the protest extends only to Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays of the week, the rest of the days delays in both flights and baggage delivery are a common occurrence in Guasimeta. In this way, the minimum services are applied in real terms not only on strike days, but throughout the week.
This was confirmed today to Radio Lanzarote by León Fajardo, president of the Iberia Company Committee. "One hundred percent of the workers have minimum service and the only way for what happened last Sunday to happen is by working the regulations and not doing overtime. That is the union force or the pressure force that we have to carry out the strike."
Fajardo explained the mechanics that day after day makes the waits in Guasimeta common. One of the pressure techniques is the strict application of airport regulations. The speed of cargo vehicles in the airport premises "cannot exceed 20 kilometers per hour, the baggage carts must have a certain height, in the holds there must be a number of people that there usually isn't." And all this, in the words of Fajardo himself, "causes the entire routine to be delayed daily, and not only on strike days. But they are delays that do not exceed fifteen or twenty minutes and the only one who suffers is the customer. Both the Lanzarote airport and Iberia camouflage it, they are small damages that they do not take into account."
But the most surprising thing is that compliance with security regulations delays flights and baggage delivery at the airport. According to Fajardo told LA VOZ yesterday, under normal circumstances the rules are not respected by the workers, even under threat of dismissal from the Iberia managers, who force the staff to load the carts more, go faster, use inappropriate cargo vehicles, in addition to failing to comply with many other rules that govern traffic in airports.
On the other hand, Fajardo stated that the 1,200 suitcases that were left at the airport on Sunday are already starting to leave the Island. The company Hapag - Lloyd, which left the luggage of two flights at the Guasimeta facilities, will send larger planes on its flights to Lanzarote in order to collect the approximately 400 packages that they have left here and that will have to be distributed later in different cities in Germany, practically house to house, because often the place of residence of those affected is quite far from the nearest airport.
Given the lack of solutions from Iberia and AENA, which according to the Company Committee are interested in prolonging the labor conflict and also minimizing the consequences of the strike, the workers have chosen to have two days of strong strike a week, Thursday and Sunday, to maximize the economic losses to the airline. "A long conflict is more damaging to Iberia's interests", but for both us and the Island, the most convenient thing is for this to end now, Fajardo said, adding that "the strike will be strong on Sundays and Thursdays, always at the last minute. The strength of union pressure in a conflict of this type is to do one hundred percent of minimum services, work the regulations and not work overtime."
