SANTIAGO (Reuters) – The Cabin Crew Union of LAN Express, a subsidiary of the Chile-based LATAM Airlines group, said workers would strike on Tuesday after mediation with the government failed to produce a new labor contract.
The union, which includes about 1,000 airline workers, said in a statement on Saturday that the strike would affect all local flights and international connections in Chile of LATAM Airlines, the largest airline in the region.
LATAM Airlines said it was continuing to negotiate but had preventively canceled or rescheduled some flights within Chile, not including Easter Island, and to and from other parts of South America between April 10 and 16.
“During the mandatory mediation, some secondary agreements were reached, however there were no proposals that could be approved in the two most relevant areas,” the union said.
It added that two points of contention were the duration of rotations and salaries of new employees.
LATAM said it had offered employees seven days of work and four days of rest, improving upon Chilean law which calls for four days of rest per 10 days of work.
LATAM was created in 2012 through a merger between Chile’s LAN and Brazil’s TAM. The group, headquartered in Santiago, has operating units in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay and Peru.
