A mandatory report from the State Labor Inspectorate, with a date of entry into the Ministry of October 19, advises the General Directorate of Labor to await the judicial pronouncement of the lawsuit filed by the Government of the Canary Islands against Iberia, before authorizing the termination of 28 contracts for Canarian workers, 17 of them from the Lanzarote work center.
Hope for the dismissed
Although the dismissals have already been consummated, the report known during the morning of this Wednesday becomes a forceful weapon for the appeal that the employees will present in order to revoke the dismissals or for the subsequent Contentious-Administrative appeal, in case the first one does not prosper before the Ministry of Labor.
The spokesperson for the Strike Committee, León Fajardo, said that the report reaffirms the arguments used by the strikers throughout the conflict, especially because in one of its sections it mentions the resolution of the regional Labor Inspectorate that advocates the conversion of more than 60 temporary contracts to permanent ones.
Iberia Benefits
The Inspection report also warns of the 9.8 percent increase in Iberia's profits for the provision of handling services in Spain during 2004, while the workforce in the same period was reduced by 457 people. Despite the Sector Agreement that Iberia used to request authorization for the employment regulation file, the Inspection suggests that the company transfer the affected employees instead of opting for dismissals.
"Given the increase in activity and business of the company, as well as the aggressive commercial policy, in the terms that appear in the Master Plan..., it is possible that the company, a possibility that it has not explored in the Canary Islands, can relocate all or part of the personnel that may one day be surplus, within the company itself."
For the moment, the workers consider that it is not necessary to resume the strike.
High-flying numbers
The web Hosteltur.com offers interesting complementary data. According to what it publishes, Iberia's net profit grew by 167.8% in the first nine months of 2005, going from 150.09 million euros in 2004 to 401.8 million, according to data provided by the airline.
The company's operating income grew between January and September also by 19.2%, standing at 4,378.05 million euros compared to 3,672.07 million in the same period of the previous year. These revenues must include the capital gain obtained by the company from the sale of its stake in Amadeus of 635.1 million euros, and in Savia-Amadeus, of 77.3 million euros.
EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization and rentals) stood at 542.25 million euros for the nine months of 2005, which represents a decrease of 3.4% compared to 561.26 million in 2004. The company's expenses increased by 13%, going from 3,498.9 million euros in the January-September period of 2004 to 3,955.51 million in 2005. Among these costs, the cost of fuel stands out, whose bill increased by 30.8%, reaching 600.59 million euros, while that of personnel had a growth of 23.1%, up to 1,360.25 million euros.
More than 21 million people transported
During the first nine months of the year, 21.079 million people were transported, which represents an increase of 3.5% compared to 20.363 million in the previous year. The average occupancy rate stood at 77%, that is, 1.3 points above last year, with growth in all the routes made by the company.
