Iberia workers to halt strike action-Union

MADRID Nov 20 (Reuters) - Unions representing Spanish airline Iberia's IBLA.MC cabin crew will call off strikes planned for November and December after reaching a wage agreement with management, a union spokesman said on Friday.

"Once the (wage) agreement has been signed the strike will be officially called off," said a spokesman from Sitcpla, one of the two unions which called for strike action.

The unions already carried out strikes in October and November and another 8 days of stoppages were planned between the end of November and the middle of December.

But, on Thursday, Iberia said it had agreed an average 4 percent salary rise in 2009 for its nearly 4,000 cabin crew.

At 1118 GMT, Iberia shares were up 0.5 percent to 2.03 euros, outperforming the blue-chip IBEX-35 index .IBEX which was flat.

On Nov. 12, Iberia and British Airways BAY.L said they had reached a preliminary merger agreement. [ID:nMDT008789] (Reporting by Robert Hetz; Writing by Judy MacInnes; Editing by Dan Lalor)