Iberia Express
 

Did they start up?
Where did they get pilots?

They started flying on Sunday. I don't know where they got the scabs to fly the airplanes. From different places, I guess.

Scab is suggesting they crossed a picket line, did they ? I doubt it.

I haven't heard of any IFALPA recruitment ban either.

Given that most of them have probably come from Spanair, I would rather say :ok: well done for finding a job.

Perhaps before you start bad-mouthing professional colleagues, you could give some consideration to the fact they may wish to eat too.

If Iberia pilots are unhappy with this development, it is to them to protest, & seek to rectify the situation, via their pilots association.

They should neither expect, nor rely on , unemployed pilots refusing job offers.

Grow up :=

Captplaystation, stop your buul!!!!. some spanair guys have been recruited but just a few of them are in the new IB Express. Lots of Ib Express pilots are coming from Vueling, Air Europa and Air Nostrum while they have taken a long unpaid leave in their company.

Spanish language is a must
Recomendation is a must
Type rating is highly prefered

Iberia is transfering planes and routes to Iberia Express, up to 40 A-320's.
Iberia pilots have been on strike because of this. Their contract with the company states that Iberia cannot transfer flights out of MAD to other companys without pilots approval. Iberia Express pilots are not exactly crossing a picket line. Pilots stikes in Spain don't have picket lines. The Ministry of Transportation approves on certain dates only the cacellation of part of the flights, the rest have to be flown.
What would you call a pilot that knowingly accepts a job for a company that is doing the flights of another company whose pilots are on strike?
Iberia pilots are to resume the strikes shortly, an agreement with the company hasn't been reached.

Captplaystation, I´m not spanish and I have nothing to do with any spanish company either, but this IB Express is the perfect example of what is becoming this industry: a disgusting and a complete nightmare for all the people involved with this industry.

These "new" companies using the so called "low cost" model, invented this brilliant idea: divide to conquer, using humiliating T&C to "offer" jobs to unemployed or inexperienced pilots, with extremely low wages, nasty working conditions, precarious contracts, etc.

Maybe we shouldn't call "scabs" to all the pilots who will be flying to IB Express, but some of them certainly are.

I know this may sound pure utopia, but I think it is about time to ALL european pilots to get united and fight against this outrageous type of management.

Maybe it could be constructive to give the terms and conditions for this company. At the moment all I can see is a fight between some pilots (quite common) but without having a clue about the reasons of this fight.

The only reason for this fight is survival.
Iberia's pilots are trying to maintain their jobs facing a new company that is taking over their flights.
If you are curious about the terms and conditions of this express experiment all I can tell is that they aren't considering quite experienced ExSpanair crews :ugh:. They are aiming for a different profile...


Happy landings.

Iberia pilots are trying to hold onto a Collective Labour Agreement (CLA) that was signed 10 or 12 years ago. The world has changed and its a bit naive to think that the CLA shouldnt be renegotiated.

Perhaps they should look a bit more closely at their financial performance over the past 12 months and realise that such performance is not sustainable.

In my opininion negotiating a new CLA is not in management's agenda.

CLA 10 yrs old?
 

No man, it was signed 3 yrs ago. And as we were foreseeing the upcoming evnts, we set up a clause particularly establishing any outsourcing for a new airline or BA with IB´s flight hours would be illegal. That´s exactly what´s happening. And none, I repeat, NONE of the new IBEX was unemployed by the airline start-up time. Please , more infos before speaking,

Just remember the Continental Airlines pilots strike back in the early 80's.
CAL-ALPA lost the strike, and I think that marked the beginning of the end of the good old times for the airline pilot profession. If Iberia pilots lose this fight, what's going to be at stake here? Is BA-BALPA next?

It's doubtful IB Express will be a success anyway. Their fare levels seem to be simply another (slightly less expensive) tariff band on IB's main booking website. There are no bargains to be had and no much publicised 25 euro tickets available, unless you book a midnight return ticket in the traditional manner :{

Iberia's CLA was signed on 2009.

No unemployed pilot has been recruited for this s**t. No Spanair pilot either as they are Unión pilots and Express just wants scab pilots. None of the pilots working for Express belong to a union, they are strikebreakers, as we say in Spain, the worst from each house.

Most of they come from Vueling, a couple from Air Nostrum. The only prerequisites were no Union, no MEL, no CLA, no father known,...

We shall never surrender.

Fuerza y Honor

How do you define scab ?

As there is a strike, working for Iberia express is the same as crossing a picket line.


The guys who go to Iberia Express are helping to break a strike, and meanwhile accepting poorer working conditions to live in madrid.

Dont think it is ethical to go to Iberia express now.


One of the guys told me well if I dont go someone else will.

What do you tell the guy who has no job? And goes to express.


Good luck to the Iberia pilots, and if the Iberia pilots come to a deal, which scares the express low paid mercernaries.
Normally mercenaries are well paid,
So these Iberia express guys are now getting abused on the radio and you can bet they will have enemies for life in Madrid.
Do they deserve the abuse ?
Do the express pilots who come from Vueling have morals just to live in Madrid ? Are they contributing to the degradation of all our conditions with ryanair in madrid ?

Why do the politicians in Spain welcome Ryanair with open arms as spanish companies close ?
you can bet those Iberia express pilots will not get much help from Iberia

I don't think that many people in Spain have come to terms with the new economic realities. The problem is, when you start paying people vast amounts of money, they start to believe that they are worth it. Witness the Spanish air traffic controllers and now the IB pilots.
If IB was generating vast profits, then there is an argument to be had that the salaries are justified. If it isn't, well.......

What do you tell the guy who has no job and goes to express?
You tell him that he is a miserable person.

5 fat IAG executives versus Iberia Pilots
 

If IAG-IBERIA wins this battle, watch their executive bonuses.

Iberia is losing 3 million Euros a day in their strike, they would rather lose this money than make peace with its pilots.

Its time for both sides to agree to proper arbitration, no ?

Isnt all about distributing wealth from the many ( pilots ) into the few ( executives )

Is there a master plan at IAG and British Airways by the puppetmasters at work here ?

JHR I guess time will tell. As a resident of Spain , I have seen IB pilots stand up for their rights/collective agreement for years and in the process ruin millions of holidays every year with strike action. I can't help but feel that IB management have decided that enough is enough and sort the problem out once and for all. I'm not sure that SEPLA have quite come to terms with the new economic and industrial landscape post Laval.

I don't believe IB is losing 3 millions a strike day. They're cancelling around 35% of scheduled flights. Those flights can most of them be money losing flights.

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?