Except for this incident, the two days of strike carried out so far have not yielded significant events, and calm has been the predominant note, since Iberia's ground staff are complying 100% with the established minimum services, which is mitigating the inconvenience caused to passengers, who so far have not seen any flights canceled.
"Passengers so far are being quite understanding of the strike and are displaying great resignation, although there is always someone who is a little more irascible," said Juan Luzardo, a member of the strike committee.
Luzardo himself also denounced what he considers "abusive minimum services", since, with the exception of the members of the strike committee, the rest of the handling service workers are working with absolute normality.
Illegal hiring
Iberia's ground staff also warned about the airline's hiring of new personnel to cover absences caused by the strike, something they consider "clearly" illegal. In this sense, they assure that the company has already hired a total of twelve workers, a fact that, without a doubt, will make it difficult to find a quick solution to the conflict, which they predict will last for several months.
At the moment, and as recognized by Leo Fajardo, representative of the workers in the strike committee, the positions between the airline and the employees themselves are "very distant", so he sees it difficult to reach a quick solution to the conflict. "Already on the previous occasion when we went on strike, three years ago, the conflict lasted for nine months, and this time I am also quite pessimistic about it," concluded Fajardo.
It should be remembered that Iberia's ground staff began an indefinite strike last Sunday at Lanzarote airport to show their disagreement with the transfer of workers to the Binter company, which is creating its own handling service. The works council also complains about the "abuse" of temporary contracts by the airline, which has already prompted a warning from the Labor Inspectorate. The stoppages, which threaten to collapse the aerodrome, will take place every Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of each week until 03:00 hours and only affect the Guacimeta facilities.
According to sources from the works council, up to 69 workers (40 permanent and 29 temporary) will have to negotiate their dismissal or agree to a voluntary subrogation to the Binter company, which would mean "the loss of job stability and salary cuts".
In addition, the strike is motivated by the "breach" of the local employment improvement agreement. The ground staff affirms that Iberia committed to convert the part-time contracts of 51 workers into full-time and, for the moment, this reform "has left out 6 colleagues".
Finally, the strikers also demand that the law on the prevention of occupational hazards be complied with.