After four days of strike action in SAS, Parat and Fellesforbundet entered into an agreement last Tuesday with NHO Luftfart. This ended the strike. The question now is whether the agreement is good enough for the members. The job as a cabin crew is largely the same in SAS and Norwegian. However, wages in SAS have fallen behind over the years, according to figures news has received from Parat. A cabin crew member who has worked for SAS for 10 years will, with the new agreement, receive NOK 35,681 in monthly salary. But if you work on a Norwegian flight, you earn NOK 41,851. That is 17% more in salary, or NOK 6,170 per month. – It is very sad that SAS offers the worst pay conditions, says manager of the cabin crew in SAS Martinus Røkkum. In his long time flying, he has seen that virtually every airline has surpassed SAS in terms of pay. The difference in pay to Norwegian is sad to watch, says Martinus Røkkum, shop steward for the cabin crew at SAS Photo: Trygve Bergsland / Parat Røkkum receives support from flight analyst Hans Jørgen Elnæs. – Cabin crew in SAS are one of the professional groups in society that have had the lowest salary developments since 2012. – Even Ryanair, which was criticized in its time for giving its employees slave contracts, now pays its employees better than both SAS and Norwegian, says the airline analyst . flight analyst Hans Jørgen Elnæs Photo: Ryanair The gap also increases for the pilots In 2022, the pilots at SAS agreed to cut their pay by 5%. This was after a pandemic that almost broke the company. Norwegian was also struggling at the time, and was going out of business. But today, two years later, the picture looks completely different. This year, Norwegian management gave its pilots a pay rise of 26%. Norwegian is in the red and the employees have received good settlements, while the distance down to SAS is increasing. I would choose Norwegian today – My salary has been stagnant since 2012, says Peder Christian Svenkerud, pilot and head of the SAS Norge pilots’ association in Parat. – If I were 24 years old myself, I would probably choose Norwegian over SAS today, says Peder Christian Svenkerud, head of the SAS pilots in Parat Photo: Peder Svenekerud A pilot with 10 years’ seniority earns NOK 86,970 a month in SAS. In Norwegian, the salary is NOK 111,400 a month. That is 28% more than in SAS. Svenkerud believes the reason lies both in SAS’s history and in the current management of the company. – SAS is organized in a different way to those we compete with, and that gives the company a completely different cost picture. When the free release and the competition really kicked in with the low-cost airlines, SAS was unable to turn around quickly enough. The company is still in the process of creating profitability in the tough market that is there now. – Isn’t it right to keep wages down? – Absolutely, but at one point or another the competition will decide where people go. And it will hit SAS. – What about switching to Norwegian, if they have jobs available? – It is not that easy. Because if you change companies, you lose a lot of your seniority, and then you still fall far down the new salary ladder. The winnings can go up in the spins. Norwegian gives up to three years seniority if you come from another airline. If you report a transfer to SAS from another company, you start at zero, says Røkkum in Parat. SAS relieved, but fighting on SAS management is relieved that they were able to resolve the strike with the cabin crew on Tuesday last week, but says that the situation is still difficult for the company. – As we see it, we at SAS have the industry’s most skilled cabin crew, and this is a group that we value internally very highly. Many of these have also been employed by us for a long time, which we naturally find very gratifying and which means that SAS has a unique continuity in this area, says Øystein Schmidt, press manager at SAS. Øystein Schmidt, press manager at SAS is happy that they reached a wage agreement with the cabin crew this week. Photo: SAS – How long can SAS operate with such a much lower salary than its competitor? – When it comes to our colleagues’ terms and conditions of pay – regardless of which department they work in – this is generally not something we want to comment on externally, says Schmidt. – That said; it is important to remember that SAS has been through a period in recent years with very strained finances, and that until recently we were also in bankruptcy protection. Aviation analyst Hans Jørgen Elnæs believes that there is a deep loyalty among SAS employees which means that many stay with the company for many years. He agrees that the seniority principle contributes to this loyalty. Hoping for yes Now the members evaluate the agreement in both associations. – Røkkum, can you knock this through? – You never know, but we have not laid down guidelines for what the members should vote for. We have to deal with it. It usually goes through, but there is always an uncertainty. – What reactions have you received so far from your members in Parat? – It comes down to pay, we have only kept pace with the other companies in this year’s settlement with this agreement, but the pay difference is still large. On Sunday, the cabin crew in Fellesforbundet will vote on the agreement they entered into with NHO Luftfart. On Wednesday 11 September, Parat’s members will vote on the same agreement. If they say no, there could be another strike in SAS. – But we hope for a yes vote in the primary vote, concludes Røkkum. Published 05.09.2024, at 14.13 Updated 05.09.2024, at 15.37
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The development in wages for cabin crew and pilots in Norwegian and SAS – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
