News

Norwegian pilots' strike ends

11 Mar 2015 by GrahamSmith

An 11-day strike by Norwegian pilots has been called off.

The industrial action is estimated to have left 200,000 passengers unable to fly due to the cancellation of the majority of the airline's local Scandinavian services.

The pilots were calling for a collective labour deal with Norwegian's parent company, instead of its local subsidiaries, and for the same employment terms to be put in place across Norway, Sweden and Denmark. They argued that this is necessary to stop the airline from giving jobs to lower paid pilots from Asia and Spain, thereby "importing" lower salaries to Scandinavia.

Following talks, the new collective agreement includes a contributory pension for the pilots, a reduced loss of license insurance, a more flexible work schedule as well as a minimum of 184 days off per year. However, they will receive no additional salary increase this year.

Norwegian CEO Bjorn Kjos said: "I am very relieved that the strike has been called off and that our passengers finally can feel confident that our flights will operate as normal again.

"The company has incurred substantial financial costs. It has been an extremely challenging period both for our passengers and our many employees who have been working day and night to take care of customers in the best possible way.

"I am also very grateful for the patience and support that we have received from the public."

norwegian.com

Graham Smith

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