To return to the topic...
Protesting workers last night succeeded in delaying the departure of Iberia 6840 by half an hour and persuaded a hundred or so of its passengers to switch to the later departing Aerolineas flight instead.
The Labour minister, Patricia Bullrich, has started moves to remove recognition from the technicians union and to fine SEPI (the Spanish state enterprise which owns 95 percent of Aerolineas) for not paying April's salary.
The flight attendant's and tecnichians unions are refusing to accept the new management plan which, in return for lower salaries and longer hours, would guarentee that nobody would lose their jobs for the next two years. The unions argue that labour costs are not the real issue and that SEPI is just trying to wring the last few drops of blood out of the enterprise.
The quid pro quo being offered by the government for the implementation of the plan involves deregualtion of airport services and a lowering of landing charges. As this has not led to howls of protest from Eduardo Eurnekian, the owner of "AA2000" which runs most of the countries airports, there are suggestions in the press that he would be only too happy if Aerolineas goes the way of VIASA as he would be well placed to lead a consortium to pick up the pieces. There are even hints that this scenario may not be be unconnected with the alleged stubborness of the technicians union.
[This message has been edited by Jorge Newberry (edited 31 May 2001).]