The SAS strike has lasted for more than two days. 250 to 300 planes are left on the ground every day, according to SAS. 30,000 passengers host a frame daily. In Denmark, the LO-affiliated trade union has accepted the agreement, which Norwegian pilots do not want. Thilde Waast, chairwoman of the Aviation Industry’s Personnel Union (FPU), believes that the agreement provides good working conditions. – The conditions are well above the industry standard in Denmark, she says to news. SAS passengers and employees at check-in at Kastrup in Copenhagen today. Photo: Sergei Grits / AP She says this despite the fact that top wages are lower – and that the agreement can lead to more work in the summer and less in the winter. Waast points out that the so-called Connect agreement has a higher starting salary for both cabin crew and pilots compared to SAS Scandinavia. – After 6 to 17 years, salaries are at about the same level, and at the very last salary step after 20–30 years, the level for SAS Scandinavia is above the final salaries in the Connect agreements, the chairman of the Aviation Industry’s Staff Union elaborates. This is the conflict SAS and their pilots do not agree on pay. The core of the conflict is the creation of two staffing companies. During the pandemic, around 560 pilots lost their jobs. At the same time, SAS established two subsidiaries. They were named SAS Link and SAS Connect. These will take over aircraft and be filled with new pilots. The SAS pilots who were laid off during the pandemic will have their job back. They say SAS is trying to circumvent its obligations to bring the dismissed pilots back. SAS rejects this. They believe the company takes into account all agreements entered into. According to the pilot association, the pilots have agreed to savings measures that amount to 25 percent savings. In return, they will have an assurance that it is their members who get the new jobs that will be filled in SAS Link and SAS Connect. Meiner SAS breaks with Scandinavian working life The core of the SAS strike is the creation of two subsidiaries, which were established at the same time as 560 pilots lost their jobs during the pandemic. SAS wants the pilots to have their own employment contracts when they fly for them. The spearheads on the employee side in the conflict mean the employment agreement they have with the parent company and should apply when they fly with subsidiaries SAS Link and SAS Connect. – For us, this is not about the terms of the FPU agreement in SAS Connect and SAS Link, but that the production and jobs in these companies are already covered by our existing collective agreement, says Roger Klokset in the Norwegian SAS pilots’ association. – This is what is broken. This is where they break with what we mean is the Scandinavian model in that one tries to organize away jobs, says leader of the Norwegian Aviation Association, Aleksander Wasland. – Collective agreement without pilots The Norwegian Pilots’ Association believes that the stamp of approval from a Danish trade union does not change anything. They perceive the new companies as constructions to get around existing agreements. – This is not about the content of the agreement. It is about the fact that there is an agreement here that SAS entered into with the trade union in Denmark, which was a collective agreement without pilots in, ie an “empty” agreement, says Wasland. Aleksander Wasland, leader of the Norwegian Pilots’ Association. Photo: Hans Ivar Moss Kolseth / news SAS says they want to maintain Scandinavian standards SAS’s press manager Tonje Sund believes the new agreements meet the Scandinavian standard for working conditions. – We do not recognize ourselves in what the Norwegian Pilot Association describes, it is important for us to show that SAS has had and will continue to offer Scandinavian terms for employees here in Scandinavia, she says. According to SAS, the agreements in subsidiaries are necessary for them to be profitable now after the pandemic. – SAS Scandinavia and SAS Connect are airlines that will handle different markets, it requires different types of agreements, says Sund. Tonje Sund, press manager at SAS Photo: Vilde Helljesen If a plane is to fly on the business market Monday to Friday or in the leisure market this weekend, it requires a completely different planning if SAS is to be profitable, she says. – That is why we have good agreements that are adapted to this. It is not about something being worse, but that it is appropriate and adapt now that we are going up in the air after two years of pandemic and into a market that has fundamentally changed, says the press manager at SAS. Sund encourages the pilots to return to the negotiating table. – This is where we can find a solution. The door is open, she says.
ttn-69
Danish trade union has accepted the agreement Norwegian SAS pilots do not want – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
