On Thursday afternoon, NHO Luftfart, Parat or Fellesforbundet wanted to comment on how the mediation is going. According to Fellesforbundet, the parties were far from each other when they met at the Riksklaren the day before. Demands from cabin crew are higher wages and better working conditions. It is now clear that there will be a strike, and already today flights will be affected by the strike, reports SAS. – A limited number of flights will be affected by the strike today, and we are now working to get as many flights as possible to go as planned, they write in a press release. So far there will be two flights between Oslo and Trondheim that have been cancelled. Head of analysis at Danish Sydbank, Jacob Pedersen, believes the strike is hitting SAS at a terrible time. – The company has just acquired new ownership, is on the threshold of emerging from more than two years of grueling bankruptcy protection and is on its way into SkyTeam with new airline alliance partners, he says. Tens the least among cabin crew – SAS has rejected all demands and wants the cabin crew to continue working under conditions that do not correspond to Norwegian working life, says Dag-Einar Sivertsen, union secretary of the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions. Fellesforbundet and NHO Luftfart met at the National Ombudsman on Wednesday. Both parties agreed that there would be demanding negotiations. Photo: Javad Parsa / NTB According to the SAS Norwegian Cabin Association (SNK), cabin attendants in SAS rank least among cabin attendants in the country. The cabin associations state that a new hire at SAS earns NOK 27,500 a month before tax, and does not have any allowances for evening, night or weekend work. Cabin attendants also point out long days and short breaks. In a press release, Sivertsen claims that the cabin crew have put forward “reasonable demands for two weekends off a month in order to be able to maintain a minimum of social life and a daily meal break somewhere other than at the passengers’ dock queue”. The managing director of NHO aviation, Erik Lahnstein, believes that they have met the cabin crew, but that they still have not been able to come to an agreement. – SAS has come a long way both when it comes to wages and working hours, he says to news. Lahnstein will not comment on the distance between the parties, or any other details about the dispute. – The goal is to get out of the conflict as quickly as possible. Union leader in the Fellesforbundet, Jørn-Henning Eggum, disagrees with the portrayal of Lahnstein. – If they think this is going too far, there will be difficult days in Norwegian aviation going forward. Challenging mediation Riksmeklar Mats Ruland Photo: Eirik Pessl-Kleiven – We will turn over all stones and see if we can reach an agreement, said Riksmeklar Mats Ruland before the mediation deadline expired. He added that questions dealing with working hours and finances are often more complex within aviation than other collective agreements. When the mediation started on Wednesday, federal secretary of the Fellesforbundet Dag-Einar Sivertsen said this to news: – We expect a demanding mediation and there is a real danger of a strike due to the great distance between the parties. Erik Lahnstein, managing director of NHO aviation. Photo: Petter Larsson / news NHO Luftfart hopes they will be able to reach a solution, but Lahnstein told NTB that it will not be easy. – There will be challenging negotiations. The fact that SAS is under bankruptcy protection and in financial reconstruction means that we enter the mediation with a demanding backdrop. In front of news, he would not comment on the mediation, or what consequences a strike would have. Willing to strike for a long time 115 of the 640 members in the cabin association are called out on strike. In addition, five will be withdrawn today from the SAS Norwegian Cabin Association, and during the weekend the strike will escalate further. 19 members will be drawn on Saturday, and 16 from Sunday. A total of 152 cabin crew will be on strike during the weekend. The joint union believes that an immediate strike will have consequences for large parts of SAS’s route network. Then more planes will be put on the ground, something that can have ripple effects on other routes. SAS is a Scandinavian airline founded in 1946. Norway was a co-owner until 2018, when the Norwegian state sold all its shares in the company. Photo: Linda Bjørgan Head of the SAS Norwegian Cabin Association in Parat, Martinus Røkkum, says that all SAS flights will eventually be hit, and that the aircraft will remain on the ground until their claim is accepted. – We are willing to strike for a long time if necessary, but hope that SAS will come to its senses. With a reasonable offer from SAS, we are back at the negotiating table, he says. Should there be an escalation of the strike, the passengers will notice this to an even greater extent. – Fingers crossed that it works – They probably have their reasons for striking, but it’s crazy that it’s going beyond us. That’s what 21-year-old Erika Molvær says, who flies from Oslo to Stockholm on Thursday evening. On Monday, she is scheduled to fly home again. – I didn’t know there was talk of a strike, so I’m crossing my fingers that it goes. Two years ago, Molvær experienced that the southern trip was spoiled due to a pilot strike in SAS in the summer of 2022. – If this happens several times, it will probably make it easier for me to choose Norwegian in the future. Photo: Johannes Slettedal / news Understands that the cabin crew have high demands Commentator in Dagens Næringsliv, Anita Hoemsnes, has little faith that the parties will reach an agreement tonight. Among other things, she points to the financial situation of SAS. – SAS is under bankruptcy protection and has promised major cost cuts to new investors. So they probably don’t want to give an extraordinarily good salary statement to some of the employees. At the same time, she understands that the cabin crew have high demands. She refers to the salary settlement for Norwegian’s cabin crew this spring. Anita Hoemsnes, commentator in Dagens Næringsliv. – They got a 7 percent increase this year and 4.5 percent next year. That is probably what the SAS staff want to achieve. If a possible strike were to be prolonged, it would have major consequences for the airline, she adds. There are several reasons why cabin crew wages are low, according to Hoemsnes. It is a requirement that one must have four to six weeks of training to work as cabin crew. In professions that do not require extensive prior knowledge, the salary will necessarily reflect that, she says. Hoemsnes still believes that wages are most affected by the fact that it is an international industry. – SAS competes with airlines from countries with far lower salary levels than the Norwegian one. Thus, in a sense, there is no room for the high salaries in this industry. SAS was established as a collaboration between the national airlines in Denmark (Det Danske Luftfartsselskap, DDL), Norway (Det Norske Luftfartselskap, DNL) and Sweden (Svensk Interkontinental Lufttrafikk, SILA) to operate intercontinental scheduled traffic. Photo: Annika Byrde / NTB What are you entitled to? If the flight you are traveling on is delayed or cancelled, you may be entitled to compensation. It could be money for food and other expenses, a new departure on a different flight or accommodation if the need arises. But the claim for money disappears if the cancellation or delay is due to things beyond the airline’s control. There may, for example, be unexpected security measures or weather conditions. If there is a strike among the airline’s own employees or cabin crew, you are entitled to compensation. Published 22.08.2024, at 22.32 Updated 23.08.2024, at 13.13
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SAS cabin crew go on strike – flights will be affected – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
