CPH-Flyer

It is kind of telling that the pilot side does not even want to comment on the statement that their demands would increase pilot costs with 25% in Norway. I guess they are going for unreasonable demands to push SK management on the UK and Spanish bases....

ksu

You would have been rerouted on Icelandair

ksu

As you very well know, strikes are legal in Scandinavia, and follow strict rules. If SAS were to fire their striking pilots (i.e. their entire Norwegian pilot force) that would be illegal.

As for the strike, it formally started today for SAS Norway, with a pro forma outtake of just two pilots, one for each of the two unions. Thursdag morning (14. Sep) all pilots of SAS Norway will be on strike. All SAS mainline in Norway will cease flying, 1/3 of the flights between Scandinavian capitals will be cancelled, most intra-European flights to Norway will be cancelled, as well as some intercontinental flights (not necessarily only those to/from Oslo). SAS will not be able to roster non-striking pilots (e.g. Swedish or Danish) to affected flights, as this would be considered strikebreaking.

Routes flown on wetlease (e.g. WX CRJ 900 - operations on secondary routes) will probably not be affected. DY (Norwegian) or WF (Widerøe) are not on strike.

The government can introduce legislation to stop the strike if the strike if life, health or vital interests are threatened. This means that the strike will be stopped before or later, but usually not within the first couple of days (my guess i sMonday). This is due to the fact that most routes affected still will have DY service, the sole city on SK's domestic network not being served by DY is KSU which is a WX destination. A complicating factor is today's general election, meaning a sitting duck situation for the outgoing parliament/government.

Be also aware that a legal strike is force majeure. Passengers affected have the right to rebooking/refund and to duty of care, but not to EU261 compensation.

tl:dr Be prepared to be affected by strike from Thursday if flying SAS to/from/in Norway.

KurtOlsson

Can one be fairly certain that this will "only" affect SK flights to and from and within Norway? Will flights for example ARN-LHR (where I'll be going) definitely be operating as scheduled?
No detailed information on the SK website yet, but I assume they won't go public with what flights are affected until the day before the strike, if it still looks likely to happen by then.

FlightCancelled

The right to strike is especially important in an industry such as aviation. Without the threat of strike action, airlines will be able to make bigger profits while the working conditions will get worse. That is not something you want to see in the aviation industry. There are very few industries where lack of or decreased safety can be as dangerous.

Taking the current state of the industry with the reduced safety nets, more squeezing of margins and horrible employment practices (such pay2fly for FOs) I have never been this supportive of an SAS strike.

ksu

No new negotiations between the pilots and SAS, which is not uncommon so early during a conflict. Yesterday's general election is also a disturbing factor. SAS expects a quick solution, the pilots are not as optimistic.

SAS claims that the pilot's demands are well beyond the conditions accepted by the Swedish and Danish pilots, whereas the pilots claim that their demands are similar to the conditions accepted by the Swedish and Danish pilots.

http://e24.no/naeringsliv/sas/ingen-...ikten/24139247

My opinion is that SAS has most to lose - Norwegian unions tend to have well-filled strike coffers...

CPH-Flyer

Basically, the Norwegian pilots seems to be making impossible demands as they are unhappy with the UK and Spain bases. These new bases are outside the scope of collective bargaining and hence the pilots will strike based on unreasonable demands. Welcome to something worse than the Air France pilots it could seem.

ksu

SAS claims that the demands are impossible, and quotes the salary figures of captains with 20+ years service as being the typical salary for their pilots, whereas the unions counter with the starting salary of a first officer.

Basically, the main disagreement according to the unions appears to be about the right to a full-time contract, with working passes agreed in advance.

CPH-Flyer

What the pilots want according to themselves is just what agreed in Sweden and Denmark. Plus adjustments for local Norwegian conditions. Which according to SK is a cost increase of 20% to 25%. Now, neither side will be a truth witness in this presentation of the facts. But for various reasons I may siding with SK here. Mainly for statements that are media quotes from the Norwegian union that I have yet to see disputed by the union. I'd look hard at what those local Norwegian adjustments are. Though I will not actually be able to.

In the end both sides will claim victory...

ksu

No new negotiations between the parties to the strike, so there is very likely that SAS will cancel most operations to/in/from Norway from tomorrow.

Information in English in the link below, including information about free rebooking procedures between 14 and 18 Sept. Note that latest date to rebook to is wrong in the English link. According to the Norwegian webpage, flight must be taken by 31 December 2017

https://www.sas.se/en/traffic-inform...93&logout=true

ksu

New negotiations starting this afternoon. SAS is optimistic, the unions less so, but the National Arbitrator will lead the negotiations.

We´ll see what the outcome is.

https://www.aftenposten.no/okonomi/i...ken-kan-unngas

FlyingMoose

Just because it is legal, that doesn't make it right. Or the other way around.

There are legal means to get rid of people afterwards that displayed this level of unprofessionalism and disloyalty.

Just to add to the broken rules. While I don't agree with strikes period but especially not when it concerns critical elements of society such as infrastructure, medical services or education, it is even further completely bizarre that companies aren't allowed to defend or protect themselves against this malpractice. Legally having employees bankrupt a company is nothing but insane.

Grinding the majority of air travel to a halt in any country strikes me as vital interests. I understand Norway has more money than sense but this affects countless more people than a handful of overpaid bus drivers.

Nope, if you don't agree with your employer, go find a new one. No lack of jobs in aviation at the moment. This is what people in industries (or countries) without unions do and usually the employee is much better off.

Clearly people on legacy golden contracts won't find a new job with better terms but luxury problems shouldn't affect critical infrastructure.

There are very few industries where the safety rules are enforced to the same extend as in aviation and changing job dynamics should not affect that.

ksu

The pilots are neither unprofessional nor disloyal. They are exercising their legal rights, as other salaried employees have, to strike when they and their employers do not agree in negotiations. This is not a wildcat strike. There are no legal means to get rid of legally striking employees in Norway.

This is not the place for a lengthy discussion of the Scandinavian social model, but basically the system of having well-regulated labour rights, with clear rules for both parties (employer/employee) for negotiations, and how conflicts can be solved, is usually considered an important factor in creating the modern Scandinavian societies with their stable work forces, domestic calmness and reasonably equal distribution of wealth. Thus strikes, while a nuisance (my flight tomorrow morning was just cancelled) are accepted as a necessary evil. Norway is not Singapore.

ksu

No news from the negotiations, but SAS has now cancelled 200 flights before 14.00 tomorrow.

l etoile

Moderator note: This is not this place to discuss your personal views on strikes and labor relations. We have the Omni PR forum for that. This thread is for updates and information on the strike, how SAS is responding to passengers and any settlement.