Spanish pilots challenge British Airways merger
Iberia pilots are calling for an end to the airline’s merger with British Airways following a proposal to axe 4,500 jobs and cut salaries by 25% to 35%.
Union bosses will meet with management this week to discuss a restructure of the airline, but pilots are already threatening to strike over the proposals, which include shedding almost a quarter of the airline’s workforce and shrinking its services by 15%,
The Spanish pilot’s union Sepla has accused BA and their parent company IAG of disregarding Spanish interests. According to a report in the Daily Telegraph, it has threatened legal challenges over the merger, which it claims was stacked in BA’s favour.
"It’s not fair and it’s not the way things were supposed to be," Union head Justo Peral told the Telegraph. "The merger was supposed to bring growth for both companies and benefits for workers of both airlines We want to break the merger and go it alone again, that’s the only way we will survive. W e will not stand by and see Iberia dismantled by the British."
He claimed Iberia assets had been used to plug a £3.7bn deficit in the BA pension scheme.
Iberia management has is claiming a complete overhaul is necessary to make 85-year-old airline competitive. It losts €262m in the first nine months of this year, while BA made an operating profit of €286m.
The company argued that BA had alredy undergone a period of readjustment and its pilots were paid half as much as Iberia’s.
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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