– LO does not want SAS conditions in Norwegian working life. We will always say clearly when actors try to avoid their employer responsibility, says Skoghaug to news It is particularly the creation of the sub-companies SAS Link and SAS Connect that provokes. LO believes this was done to “deprive SAS employees of rights to which they are entitled”. The company rejects this (see response below in the case). – This case is an example of a type of scalding and rolling with own employees who do not belong anywhere in Norwegian working life, says the LO deputy leader. LO deputy leader Sissel M. Skoghaug believes the government must close loopholes in the legislation and believes the SAS strike shows why. Photo: William Jobling / news Now she demands that the government present a new bill. It will give employees who lose their jobs preferential rights to other jobs in the same group. In addition, LO wants dismissals to be labeled as unfair if there is still suitable work in the group. Both proposals were originally put forward by the Fougner committee in June last year. – I doubt that SAS would have been able to continue as they have done if the government’s review of the Fougner report had already taken place, says Skoghaug. Facts about the SAS strike *After 15 days of strike, SAS and the pilot unions agreed on an agreement on the night of Tuesday 19 July. The agreement applies for five and a half years, and will ensure that 450 dismissed pilots get their jobs at SAS back. * The core of the conflict has been employment in the two subsidiaries SAS Link and SAS Connect. When the pandemic hit, just under 600 pilots lost their jobs at SAS. They had to apply for jobs again in the new companies, and were offered agreements with different conditions. * The SAS pilots believe that the company is thereby trying to circumvent its obligations to bring the dismissed pilots back again. SAS, for its part, has rejected this and believes that the company complies with all agreements entered into. * On 29 March, the SAS pilots broke off the negotiations after one day. SAS and four pilot associations under the SAS Pilot Group then met for mediation in Stockholm on Monday 13 June. On Monday 4 July, mediation broke down, and around 900 pilots in Norway, Denmark and Sweden went on strike. * The mediation solution is now out for a preliminary vote among the pilot associations in Norway, Sweden and Denmark. The result will be announced on 6 August. (Source: NTB/news) [email protected] Supports the demand Lawyer Christen Horn Johannessen in the employee organization Parat gives up completely on the demand from LO. – The model SAS now has in the new airlines SAS Connect and SAS Link is that the employment relationships are placed in staffing companies. They have been moved out by the airline, which then hires the employees as needed. This is the same as Norwegian has been doing for a while, he says. Before the summer, the government presented several proposals for changes to the Working Environment Act. According to the Parat lawyer, these are going in the right direction. Among other things, the changes could have consequences for the practice of staffing companies within large groups. – The government’s change will ensure that the employees are actually employed where they work, and not removed from the part of the company that earns the money, where the tasks are and where the business is run, he says. Rejecting the criticism, SAS believes that LO and Parat are making incorrect claims. – We experience that opinions and intentions are assigned to us that we do not have. Of course, SAS follows the applicable rules and agreements, says Director of Community Relations at SAS, Knut Morten Johansen. Knut Morten Johansen in SAS believes that LO and Parat attribute opinions and intentions to the company that it does not have. Photo: Ole Berg-Rusten / NTB Scanpix He points out that for many decades the SAS group has consisted of several companies, which have served different markets. – What is today called SAS Connect was created in 2017 to avoid closure of the London route. SAS Link is in reality an insourcing that reduces the scope of hire and increases the use of own aircraft and employees, he says. Insourcing means that a company takes over tasks it has previously bought from other suppliers. When asked what he thinks about the proposal from LO, Johansen replies: – We have many examples where SAS has practiced preferential rights to other jobs in the group. Among other things, between different jobs and companies on the ground. Different skills and qualifications play a role here, as in the air. The SAS strike has uncovered loopholes in the regulations, LO believes. Photo: Erik Johansen / NTB Prayer to the politicians LO organizes the pilots in the Norwegian Aviation Association, while the Pilots Association is organized in the YS association Parat. Both unions were covered by this summer’s strike in SAS. When the mediation solution was finally put in place last week, Pilotforbundet’s leader Oddbjørn Holsether went out in Dagsavisen and asked the politicians to step in: – Foreign agreements with foreign trade unions suddenly became part of Norwegian working life. Although SAS had not established SAS Link and SAS Connect bases in Norway, it was a possibility since the legislation was not there, said Holsether. Oddbjørn Holsether in the Pilots’ Association believes that the politicians must get on the field. Photo: Hans-Olav Landsverk Knut Morten Johansen in SAS believes that Holsether, for its part, risks “imprecise claims”. – SAS is a Scandinavian company. In Denmark, a collective agreement had been made with the largest Danish union. In Norway, it will be Norwegian agreements that apply, he says. Warnings seized Labor Minister Marte Mjøs Persen (Ap) says several of the proposals from the Fougner committee have already been presented to the Storting. Others are still under consideration by the government. – The Fougner committee’s report has been widely consulted. The work has a high priority for the government and we will put forward the proposals as soon as possible, says Persen to news. Labor Minister Marte Mjøs Persen (Ap) says the government will come up with its own aviation strategy during the autumn. Photo: Javad Parsa / NTB – This applies, among other things, to the proposal which is about making the employer liable. Those who actually manage the employees must also be the ones who manage the work, she says. Concretely, this means that the part of a group that actually decides on the employees’ everyday life must also be held responsible for the employees’ working conditions. – The government will not comment on SAS’s company structure in particular. But on a general basis, I would say that the Norwegian working life model is incredibly important to us. We will do what we can to defend it and strengthen the employees’ rights, says Persen. She adds that the government is also working on a separate strategy for aviation and an action plan against social dumping. She also had the same message in an interview with Aftenposten on Wednesday.
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Asks the government to close “SAS loopholes” – news Norway – Overview of news from various parts of the country
