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Dec. 7 (UPI) -- Latam, Latin America's biggest airline, is facing an indefinite strike by 270 workers in its base country of Chile, Chilean media reported. The company tweeted Friday that passengers should show up three hours ahead of international flights and two hours before national flights, as the strike could cause delays.
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The strike involves workers in several areas of the Santiago airport, including counter and ticketing agents, who are demanding better working conditions, Emol media reported. Sebastian Lobos, head of the union, told Emol that the strike started at midnight Friday and will continue indefinitely.
The union includes about half of all the airline workers in the Santiago airport. Union members are upset that the airline hired 100 temporary workers to cover their positions, Lobos said.
The workers are also concerned the company signed with another "pro company union," an accord that eliminates a system under which the company helped transport personnel to the airport.
This elimination of transportation for workers now forces many workers who start early in the morning to sleep in the airport to be able to arrive on time, the union representative told the media.
Latam has subsidiaries in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay and Peru. The subsidiaries were companies that Chile's Lan operated in different country's under its flagship brand Lan. In August 2015 all Lan airlines, as well as Brazilian airline Tam, started to use the name Latam.
The company operates a fleet of over 300 airplanes, taking passengers to more than 130 destinations in 24 countries, including the United States as well as countries in Asia and Europe.
