The Iberia company spoke for the first time yesterday, through a press release, about the strike of the handling services since it began on June 26. It did so to urge the Strike Committee at the airport and its workers to end the protest. For the airline, it is obvious that the reasons declared by the conveners are so generic and ambiguous that they are hardly credible enough to justify such a measure of pressure.
In addition, the company believes that it is a contradiction to justify the strike called in a hypothetical defense of employment, when days before the call, on May 31, 2005, the I General Collective Agreement of the Ground Assistance Services Sector at Airports was signed, reached between the Association of Ground Assistance Services Companies at Airports (ASEATA) and the trade union organizations Comisiones Obreras, Unión General de Trabajadores (UGT) and Unión Sindical Obrera (USO).
This agreement, Iberia emphasizes, since its publication, is fully applicable throughout the State and is mandatory for all companies, entities and workers in the sector, including Iberia workers at Lanzarote airport. One of its main achievements is the creation of a conventional regulation that allows the most effective guarantee of job stability, to counteract a situation of uncertainty among workers in the sector called to strong and constant movements and fluctuations of activity, as a result of its liberalization.
Denies non-compliance with the employment agreement
Iberia points out that the reported non-compliance with the local employment improvement agreement is uncertain. According to the company, the agreement reached on April 10, 2003 has been scrupulously complied with and has led to the transformation to full-time of part-time employment contracts on October 28, 2003, March 31, 2004 and October 28, 2004, when the productivity rates of the Annual Operating Plan were met at those times, a requirement on which the aforementioned agreement was based, a circumstance that, however, did not occur in March 2005.
Prevention of occupational hazards
Iberia makes explicit mention of the alleged non-compliance with regulations on the prevention of occupational hazards. Iberia declares itself not only as one of the companies that dedicates the most effort to solving any problem that may affect the health of its workers, but says that this philosophy is supported by very specific facts. Well in advance of the deadlines set by the Law on Prevention of Occupational Risks, Iberia contracted the external audit that said law contemplates to precisely evaluate the degree of compliance with it. On the other hand, in the meetings of the Arrecife Health and Safety Committee, a forum provided for in the Law on Prevention of Occupational Risks to raise possible deficiencies in the area of Prevention, there is no point that refers, even remotely, to a topic as serious as the one raised in the reasons for the strike. Iberia therefore rejects the accusation made, considering it a very serious fact that a matter of such importance is handled without the due guarantees of veracity.
Channels of dialogue
Iberia maintains that the strike is the last resort to be used in the framework of labor relations. In the present case, it emphasizes, not only had the alternatives not been exhausted, but the path of dialogue had barely begun, the first one that should be attempted when a conflict exists or may occur. The monitoring of the strike by the workers affected by the conflict is described as practically nil.
Pressure without reason
The indefinite prolongation of this measure of pressure, without basic reasons or follow-up, indicates Iberia, will only serve to seriously harm the service provided by the company, both to passengers and to assisted companies, with the risk that the reduction in quality they deserve will end up affecting the maintenance of the handling business. In this sense, and in the event that the Strike Committee "continues along this path of irresponsibility", Iberia will reconsider the suitability of competing for the tender for the operation of the Handling Business at Lanzarote Airport.
Will Iberia representatives come?
The Strike Committee confirmed that the representatives of Iberia, the general director of Labor of the Government of the Canary Islands, the territorial head of the Labor Inspectorate, the director of the airport, the president of the Cabildo and the island director of the State Administration are summoned to the meeting scheduled for today at 12:15 p.m. in the Cabildo.
So far everything looks very nice, but La Voz spoke with Iberia's press office in Madrid, and, after contacting the company's management, it communicated to us in verbatim words the following: "there must be a misunderstanding because no one is traveling from here to any meeting in Lanzarote". We hope they finally come. In any case, the president of the Cabildo summoned the mayors and the island director at the last minute yesterday to prepare for today's "summit".
