SAS and pilots to resume negotiations on Monday after 14 days of strike -NRK
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – Ailing Scandinavian airline SAS and putting pilot unions will resume negotiations on Monday, public broadcaster NRK mentioned, after failing to succeed in new collective agreements over the weekend.
Most SAS pilots in Sweden, Denmark and Norway walked out on July 4 after talks over situations associated to the provider’s rescue plan collapsed. The events returned to the negotiating desk within the Swedish capital final Wednesday.
“We are actually going residence after 37 hours to get some sleep,” Henrik Thyregod, head of the Danish pilots’ union, mentioned as he left the Stockholm venue the place negotiations are held, NRK reported.
Norwegian pilot union consultant Roger Klokset had mentioned earlier on Sunday that the events could have come nearer to a deal in a single day.
“Perhaps. However I do not know whether or not there shall be an settlement but,” he mentioned.
SAS, the primary homeowners of that are Sweden and Denmark, had been struggling to compete with low-cost competitors for years earlier than the pandemic slammed the business. It wants to draw new buyers and safe bridge financing, saying that it should first slash prices to realize these targets.
Pilots employed within the 75-year-old provider’s SAS Scandinavia subsidiary final week mentioned they’d conform to restricted wage cuts and fewer beneficial phrases, however SAS mentioned the concessions provided weren’t sufficient for it to hold out a rescue plan introduced in February.
Unions additionally demand that pilots axed through the pandemic are rehired at SAS Scandinavia slightly than having to compete with exterior candidates for jobs on much less engaging phrases at not too long ago created SAS Hyperlink and Eire-based SAS Join.
On Saturday a mediator mentioned the events had made progress, however important points had but to be resolved.
The airline mentioned on Thursday that the strike had brought on 2,550 flight cancellations, affecting 270,000 passengers and costing it between $94 million and $123 million. The Swedish authorities has mentioned it would present no additional cash.
For Sunday, 164 SAS flights, or 62% of these scheduled, have been cancelled, in response to flight-tracking platform FlightAware. Pilots at SAS Hyperlink and SAS Join are usually not on strike.
(Reporting by Helena Soderpalm, Anna Ringstrom and Johan Ahlander,; Enhancing by David Goodman and Frank Jack Daniel)
