SAS pilots on strike in April 2019
#361
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I am hardly surprised. A Facebook flag on profile pictures saying "I support the SAS pilots" was trending for a while amongst cabin crew. So they are lining up the same action to get SK back to the brink of ruin....
#362
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Baggage handlers, ground services etc will be next in line.
#363
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Isn't it stupid for the to announce it now as the negotiation takes place pretty much around the same time of the year?
#364
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#365
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Aren't some number of the SAS Swedish pilots based out of CPH? Or is the reference to "Swedish pilots" being based only about whether they are based at ARN or not?
I wouldn't be surprised if from the start the pilots were pushing for a 13% increase in one fell swoop, but that the negotiations managed to bring the increase down to being spread over 3 years.
So when is the next SAS strike going to hit? Flight attendants next?
Given the relative strength of the labor market around ARN and CPH at least, I can see why the airline employees based in the region would want to see increases in income.
I wouldn't be surprised if from the start the pilots were pushing for a 13% increase in one fell swoop, but that the negotiations managed to bring the increase down to being spread over 3 years.
So when is the next SAS strike going to hit? Flight attendants next?
Given the relative strength of the labor market around ARN and CPH at least, I can see why the airline employees based in the region would want to see increases in income.
#366
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Obvious is obvious. It would be much more surprising if they didn't demand the same as the pilots. That's the way these negotiations work (and are supposed to). In the Norwegian private sector, the traditional export industry always negotiates first ("frontfagene" ), and their result sets the norm for other sectors.
#368
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#369
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This argument would have more strength, if the CEO of SAS hadn't himself gotten a 35 % rise for turning the airline around. Hypocrisy like that does not go down well in Scandinavia.
The backstory for the very high demand for a raise is that the pilots, as well as other employees (including the CEO) accepted cuts in salary and benefits in order to help SAS avoid bankrupcy. Unlike the CEO who was given a 35 % raise in 2016 (by a board whose members had their remuneration raised by 40 - 60 %) this has not been compensated for. Now that SAS is on a much stronger economical footing, the pilots demand to get back on track salarywise, as the CEO himself has done. Obviously (as the main reason for the strike isn't tha salaries, but working conditoions) the salary demand can (and will) be negotiated downwards in proper mediation. Unfortunately, the very well-paid SAS CEO has done nothing constructively to stop the strike. On the contrary, he has been quoted in the media, that the pilots should stop the strike, without making any signals of wanting to restart negotiations, loooking to the public just like a petulant child, and certainly nothing like a successful CEO.
The backstory for the very high demand for a raise is that the pilots, as well as other employees (including the CEO) accepted cuts in salary and benefits in order to help SAS avoid bankrupcy. Unlike the CEO who was given a 35 % raise in 2016 (by a board whose members had their remuneration raised by 40 - 60 %) this has not been compensated for. Now that SAS is on a much stronger economical footing, the pilots demand to get back on track salarywise, as the CEO himself has done. Obviously (as the main reason for the strike isn't tha salaries, but working conditoions) the salary demand can (and will) be negotiated downwards in proper mediation. Unfortunately, the very well-paid SAS CEO has done nothing constructively to stop the strike. On the contrary, he has been quoted in the media, that the pilots should stop the strike, without making any signals of wanting to restart negotiations, loooking to the public just like a petulant child, and certainly nothing like a successful CEO.
Keeping the narrow minded Scandinavian view alive in 2019 that you don't need top executives to successfully run a business and not need to compensate them accordingly is going to be the downfall of the economies there. I fully concur that these pilots should not have been giving a penny and that starting to lay off staff to trigger government interference is the right path. You can't negotiate with blackmailers.
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#371
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I doubt we will see any government involvement. Norway has sold all their shares, Sweden is thinking about it and the Danish government burned their fingers hard when they intervened in 2012. Despite we have changed government since and are probably doing it again in a few moths time, no DK government want to be part of a dispute between the unions and SK.
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#373
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#374
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And just like that it’s back to San Diego
three biz award seats actually opened up next week and I snagged them. They popped up on United dot com before any of my alerts triggered, I wasn’t looking for them. Called the Swedish number. Very helpful, under 15min wait
now if we can start flying this weekend so LAX-ARN can get crewed up by next week....