NHO issued the notice of lockout at 6 pm on Tuesday. The lockout will take effect on Sunday night unless the parties reach a solution. Late Tuesday evening, central board member Petter Wettre in NFO confirms that they have contacted the chief negotiator in NHO Luftfart. – We hope for a quick start with further negotiations, says Wettre. NHO: – Serious means of pressure Lockout means that workers are excluded from work, and is the employer’s tool for forcing a solution. It is a means of pressure in the same way as the workers’ strike. – It is not often we choose to do it, because we know it is a serious tool. When we choose to do that, it is because we see that we are in a deadlocked situation. We are facing far higher wage demands than what other groups in society have accepted, says CEO Ole Erik Almlid in NHO to news. The aircraft technicians have demanded an extra NOK 60 per hour, but a break in the negotiations with NHO led to a strike on 18 June. Central board member Petter Wettre in NFO says they are open to negotiations. In an interview with news on Tuesday night, Wettre said that they are willing to meet the wage demand. Wettre then promised to make new contact with NHO, which happened later in the evening. Also includes ambulance aircraft 20 aircraft technicians in Babcock will also be taken out in lockout from Sunday. NHO tells TV 2. Babcock operates the ambulance planes in Norway. The general manager of Babcock Norden, Marius Hansen, regrets that the conflict has reached this level. He says that Babcock, as a member of NHO Luftfart, is loyal to the measures NHO believes are necessary. Lockout of Babcock will go beyond the ambulance planes in Norway. – When the decision takes effect on Sunday night, it will only take hours before ambulance planes have to be taken out of service. From experience, all ambulance planes will be on the ground in a few days without the supervision of an aircraft technician, says Hansen. On Tuesday, almost 50 flights with Widerøe and Norwegian were canceled. Leader Jan Skogseth in NFO calls it grotesque that ambulance planes are affected by NHO’s plan for lockout. Photo: news Leader Jan Skogseth in NFO reacts strongly to Babcock being included in NHO’s announced lockout. – We have protected life and health. Then it is drastic that NHO comes up with a lockout that directly hits Babcock and puts lives in danger. It is grotesque to gamble with people’s lives in this way, says Skogseth to TV 2. Wants negotiations NHO says they go to this step to get the aircraft technicians back to the negotiating table. Almlid says lockout is the only tool employers have in a conflict. – We expect them to come to the negotiating table now, because now it is serious, says Almlid. Ole Erik Almlid, CEO of NHO, believes that the requirements of aircraft technicians are miles above all others. NHO’s lockout will take effect on Sunday night and will not affect air traffic until then. The Norwegian Aircraft Technician Organization (NFO) reacts as follows to the warning from NHO: – It is difficult for me to take a position until now. It is a move that they then chose to make based on the situation they are in. It is part of the rules of the game as well. I’m not very surprised, says central board member Petter Wettre in NFO. Broker Carl Petter Martinsen at Riksmekleren tells news that he has not been contacted today. – The parties have full access to sit down around a table without a mediator. Should they need the brokerage institute, they know where I am. My phone is available for contact, says Martinsen. – Do you expect something to be done now that NHO has announced a lockout? – It is hard to say. I relate to the way the situation was when there was a breakup. That distance was so great that there was no basis for further mediation. Whether they want to meet again is something the parties must consider. This is what the airlines Norsk Flytekniker Organisasjon (NFO) has said has taken out 106 of its more than 400 members on strike. Another 39 technicians will go on strike from Friday 24 June if no solution is agreed by that time. So far, there does not seem to be a solution in sight. A lockout from Sunday will have major consequences for Widerøe, says press manager Catharina Solli. – There is no doubt that if a lockout becomes a fact, it will not take long before most of our planes are on the ground, she says to NTB. The aircraft require frequent, if not daily, maintenance, and will therefore not be able to be taken care of by the aircraft technicians as necessary. Norwegian says it has consequences, but that they do their best to minimize this. To date, SAS has not had to cancel departures as a result of the strike, and the airline is now working to map the consequences of the situation and what this could mean for SAS flights from the weekend onwards. The airline Flyr is not affected by the strike as they do not have employees who are organized in NFO. Almost 50 flights were canceled on Tuesday. Photo: Håkon Mosvold Larsen / NTB Complaints about staffing NHO points out that the limit for this year’s wage settlement is 3.7 per cent, and that the aircraft technicians’ claim of 17 per cent is miles above all others. – We want the aircraft technicians to understand that this is serious. The consequences are great, and will be greater during the summer. It affects many travelers. Then they must understand that now we have to sit down at the table, and then we have to find completely different solutions than a 17 percent wage increase, says CEO Torbjørn Lothe in NHO Luftfart. Wettre in NFO defends the claim. – It is a very serious situation we are in when it comes to staffing, and not least challenges in relation to age composition. And that means that there are far too few people at work, he says. – Where I work, only 80 percent of the positions are filled. We are unable to recruit people for the remaining 20 percent. And our solution to that is to have a wage increase that makes the profession competitive with other professions that steal our labor, Wettre argues. Frode Steen, professor of economics, says there is a strong reaction from NHO. Photo: Sindre Øye Helgheim / news – Many planes will stop over the weekend Frode Steen, professor of economics, believes these are legitimate means, and that it involves a sharpening. – Lockout means that there are no technicians at work. This actually means that there are a lot of planes that stop over the weekend. When the employer does that, it is a pretty strong message that they do not want to be part of this anymore, Steen says.
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NHO announced lockout – aircraft technicians contacted tonight – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
