Hunterboy

Iberia management don't give a damn about passengers. They only care about their bonuses.

Iberia was making money. Iberia was good, man. BA was not doing well. The merger was agreed with all stakeholders, including IB pilots, so that Iberia bussiness would remain in IB.

Iberia management says ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! I RAISE MY SALARY 56%

Iberia pilots just fight for their very jobs, now. Is that so difficult to understand??

Come on!

Sadly Microburst IB pilots have been crying wolf and disrupting Spanish pax for years. A combination of the worst economic outlook for generations and the implementation of European laws has meant that employee protections have been vastly diluted. The low hanging fruit is being picked. One only has to read the newspapers to see that this is only the start of changes to come in Spain....
I don't believe that there will be much support for IB pilots from anyone in Spain. That along with the aggressive IB management leads me to think that SEPLA are unlikely to win this one. There is a saying that says we end up with the management that we deserve. I can't help thinking that the IB pilots have brought this on themselves.

Actually that is not so.

The idea you have about the issues between pilots and management is clearly biassed by the media, which is normal. Iberia has a huge influence in them, because they buy so many newspapers.

As a matter of fact there hasn't been actual strikes in a looong time. About 12 years ago there was a big one and the government imposed a referee, who dictated they could not strike in 5 years, and they had to accept substantial changes in their T&Cs. And after that they didn't strike, except a few times they have made those stupid undercover "I will do my duty, but not beyond" style (I don't know the english word for that kind of industrial action). Even when their conditions have been constantly worsening and IB has been playing with Clickair, Vueling and Audeli, which were doing Iberia flights for years.

However in the media it seems as if they had went on strike every christmas, every Easter, every summer, every year.

Iberia has not hired a pilot in 10 years. And many of those were sacked soon after they were hired. The management remains basically the same, which is odd in a company like this. What is happening now has been planned during all these years.

SEPLA agreed the BA merger with the management on the premises that their jobs would be secured. Also, they thought they were going to start Iberia Express from within, with severe cuts in the T&Cs, but in the last minute the management inexplicably backed. It was all a trick. For years they have kept the pilots relatively inactive, cheating them over and over.

The real plan was very different. The merger was nothing but a way of absorbing Iberia for free. And with Iberia, the control of Barajas. That's what it's all about: an operation to acquire a company like Iberia for nothing. And including a lot of cash, which BA needed badly.

As an spanish, I regret the merger very much. The big plan of Walsh was this amazing blooming of BA at the expense of IB, so he will not surrender easily, not now that they are so close, with the crisis imposing these nonsense of cuts and unacceptable changes in our regulations.

However, who knows, maybe the Iberia pilots are tougher than we think and manage to reach an agreement.

Microburst2002 you're always a realistic and very helpful poster on this site - at least for me. I'd say your synopsis of the situation is spot on. That said you can not deny that Iberia is a dreadful company. As it is, sooner or later, it is over. The same can be said for BA and AF too.

Microburst
Many thanks for your reply ....I do wonder if you are reading too much into BA role on all this. Isn't IAG mgmt taken 50/50 from IB and BA? I gather that after a few yrs they swap over roles ? I don't really see this as a BA plot.

Microburst - of you one of the annoying pilots who taxy at less than 10 kts and creates an almighty queue of traffic behind your childish antics?