Amparo Moraleda assumes from this Thursday, October 1, the presidency of the board of directors of Airbus, becoming the first woman and the first Spanish person to hold this position. With her appointment, the tradition of appointing a French or German executive is broken, at a time that coincides with the voting of the staff in Spain to try to unlock the labor conflict.
Board member of the aerospace group since 2015, she replaces René Obermann, who had already informed the board of his decision not to run for reelection as a board member at the general shareholders' meeting of 2027, the year in which his current term expired.
Moraleda, who was president of IBM Spain and vice president of CaixaBank, has also been part of the boards of companies such as Solvay, Vodafone Group, and the Danish shipping company Maersk.
After her appointment was made public, in an official statement, Moraleda emphasized that her commitment to the company and its shareholders "is total." "I will work closely with my fellow board members and the management team to ensure that Airbus is well prepared to face the numerous challenges and opportunities arising from the rapid changes in our global environment," she declared, in addition.
To these words were added those she pronounced shortly after at the VII International Expansion Forum, held at the Parador de Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), where she emphasized that she faces her new responsibility "with great enthusiasm," but also "aware" of the "enormous" task that presiding over a multinational like Airbus implies.
This Thursday is the second day of voting for the staff of Airbus Spain, composed of about 15,000 workers, who must decide whether to continue with the indefinite strike or give their approval to the latest proposal presented by the company.
On this day, in-person voting has been enabled until 5:00 PM, while telematic participation has been open since yesterday Wednesday.
Among the key elements of the pre-agreement reached on September 4 between the company and the unions ATP, CCOO, and SIPA, with the mediation of the Ministry of Industry and Tourism, is the commitment to pay the real CPI and recover 7.95% of purchasing power, distributed proportionally over four years, until 2029, fully maintaining the current telework agreement.
In this framework, the annual salary reviews, all linked to the CPI, contemplate an increase of 2%, except in 2029, when the rise will be 1.95%.
For Airbus, this proposal is the culmination of a "long, intense, and transparent" negotiation process with the social representation, with the shared willingness to "reach a common understanding base".