• The company will have 100% IAG capital, with a majority from Iberia, and the airline's handling staff, who provide service at all airports in Spain, will be integrated into it
• Iberia accepts the unions' request to renew the workforce through incentivised voluntary redundancies and an employment stability plan
• Iberia wants to highlight the responsible attitude of the unions, which allows it to take a historic step in the handling sector in Spain
After several weeks of intense and complex negotiations, Iberia and the unions have reached an agreement that guarantees a sustainable, competitive, and profitable future for its handling business, on the basis of a stable framework for its workers, under the umbrella of IAG and with an Iberia majority.
The agreement marks the end of a challenging stage for the airline and its employees, which resulted in a strike at the airports at the beginning of January.
“It is a source of great satisfaction for Iberia to have reached this agreement with the unions, which will allow us to build a sustainable future together. Together we have been able to generate an opportunity where there was a crisis. The new handling company guarantees the viability and competitiveness of the business and also ensures that Iberia workers continue to develop professionally and personally within the IAG Group. It is a responsible agreement with which we all win and with which, hand in hand with the workers, we take a historic step forward in the handling business in Spain,” said Fernando Candela, president of Iberia.
The main pillars of the viability plan signed by the company and the unions are:
• The creation of a new company, 100% owned by the IAG group, with a majority of Iberia and a new brand, with a focus on domestic and international growth
• All airport employees from all work centres will become part of the new company, through the provisions of Article 44 of the Workers' Statute
• All Iberia employees maintain the conditions of the Iberia Agreement and retain their rights, including career progression and seniority
• The new workers who join the new company will do so in line with the Sector Agreement
• Iberia accepts the repeated demands of the workers and offers voluntary separation measures, significantly better than those included in the Sector Agreement, for a maximum of 1,727 employees until 31 December 2026 through incentivised leave and voluntary early retirement
• Iberia will not cut its workforce; it will renew it. Workers who leave voluntarily by taking advantage of the separation measures agreed with the unions will be replaced depending on the profitability and growth of the company
• Iberia agrees to sign an employment stability plan
• A Vocational Training Centre for handling professionals will be set up at the La Muñoza headquarters, next to the Adolfo Suárez-Madrid Barajas airport
Thanks to the agreement reached between the Iberia and the unions, the new company will provide ground assistance services for airlines in the IAG Group and will also provide ramp and passenger services to third-party companies.
Thus, it will operate in all airports and work as a network, which will make it possible to achieve the necessary business volume, at market prices, to reach sustainable revenue and explore its potential for domestic and international growth.
The company appreciates, once again, the sense of responsibility of the union representatives and the 8.000 Iberia handling workers who, in the same way as when Iberia successfully launched its Transformation Plan a decade ago, have once again taken a step forward to make airport services a relevant business with a solid and viable future.
