SPANAIR EMPLOYEES DEFEND THEIR JOBS

The airline, currently in the eye of a stormy sales bid, have reportedly not given their employees any information on what will happen to their job security were the company to pass into other hands. Concern was voiced during the noisy demonstration outside Spanair's central offices in Palma by Staff Committee spokesman Jordi Mauri, who warned that depending on “developments” and how the staff were treated, there will be “further protests”. Mauri claimed that the aim of the demonstration is not to put scheduled Easter airline timetables under threat, but rather to call not only on Spanair and its parent company Scandinavian Airlines Systems (SAS) to “take into account” the human cost of any decisions that are being taken at director level, but also on the Balearic government to intervene to keep the jobs of local workers safe. “There's currently no open communication between the staff and directors,” said Mauri, talking of the purchase of Spanair proposed by Iberia and Gadair. “We claim we have the right to know where we stand in these momumental negotiations,” asserted Mauri. In a meeting scheduled with SAS today, the spokesman said that as the Balearics is the airport location which has made the most money for Spanair, he is to propose that it is in the interests of both parties to maintain staffing levels in Palma as they are.