Iberia's labor unions struggled against police yesterday during the first day of its strike. The union's goal is to alter Iberia's plan to cut 3,800 jobs and set strict ERE payment conditions.
After loud protests, conversations between Iberia and the union are continuing and it looks like it they may reach an agreement. In exchange for lowering salaries and increasing productivity, there are talks of cutting jobs, but it is still too early to say whether this agreement is official. It is true that Iberia's future is at risk and this should garner the attention of all parties connected to the negotations. It should be remembered that Iberia is a privately-owned company and needs to meet profitability and efficiency criteria that it is not meeting right now. Since it was founded, and also since it was privatized, Iberia has endured meddling from politicians that, besides the powers and perks awarded to their pilots, have done little more than undermine the company's ability to compete with other major airlines. Even after its privitization, Iberia has kept an obsolete business model that it is struggling to change.
This is the price of stability that will limit the extent to which Iberia can keep increasing the strength of its pilots, which continue to live a lifeestyle that other companies did away with years ago. The company, like other Spanish airlines, spurns the effect that budget airlines will have on the industry. While other companies have chosen to adapt, Iberia has not figured out how to suppress internal resistance against modernization. Iberia is getting its last chance to survive, and it shouldn't waste it.
