After dealing with strikes already, it would seem that unions have once again presented another stage of strikes for the well known Spanish airline Iberia. The new strikes will last for eight days unless pay agreements can be reached.

As of now, the dates of the proposed strikes are from November 39^th to December 2^nd, and then again from December 14^th through December 18^th. These strikes will, of course, cause some major disruptions with holiday travelers. The airline said that they have already been forced to ground hundreds of flights this week due to the last strikes that were issued by the unions.

The two main unions that are representing the Iberia cabin crew are SITCPLA and CTA. The SITCPLA union said in a statement recently that they have called for eight more days, because there seems to be no will from the airline to reach a payment agreement. The union went on to point out that their wages have been frozen since 2005. Under the current plan with the airline, these pay freezes will last well into 2011.

Right now Iberia is currently in merger talks with British Airways. The carrier has noted that the hiring freeze, company wide wage freeze, and the other cost reduction methods have been put in place to help the airline save money in light of the recession.

Iberia’s main goal right now is to reduce costs in order to battle falling profits. The company said that it made a loss of about 165.4 million euros in the first half of this year.