Flight attendants at Scandinavian Airlines’ feeder service SAS Link have turned down a wage proposal forwarded by the state mediator on behalf of SAS. That clears the way for a strike from next Wednesday.
More than 80 percent of SAS Link’s flight attendants voted against the proposal, after determining that it widened the gap between their wages and others’ in Norway. Their trade union federation Fellesforbundet said it “respected” its members’ evaluation that the proposal did not provide “a good enough foundation for future wages and working conditions.”
SAS Link is a subsidiary of SAS, which recently emerged from years of bankruptcy and reorganization. SAS Link flies short routes within the Scandinavian countries that connect with SAS international routes from Oslo, Copenhagen and Stockholm.
Its flight attendants objected mostly to SAS’ variable pay system that would tie more of their wages to extra pay that varies in line with the equivalent of overtime. Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) reported that the variable pay system would also remove guarantees of at least two free weekends a month.
The flight attendants’ labour federation claimed SAS Link workers “must be able to know how much pay they’ll get each month, and be allowed to plan for their time off and family time. Those are both fundamental values in the Norwegian labour system.”
SAS’ representatives at the airline employers’ organization NHO Luftfart claimed to be both “disappointed and surprised” that they hadn’t reached agreement with cabin personnel at SAS Link. They also claimed that passengers would suffer few consequences, since just 24 flight attendants would initially be called off the job.
NewsinEnglish.no staff