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Norwegian faces first ever pilot strike

Norwegian Air Shuttle could see its first ever strike by pilots on Sunday, if it fails to end more than three months of fruitless negotiations and strike a deal with unions.

Published: 24 February 2015 14:40 CET

Norwegian faces first ever pilot strike

Norwegian is increasingly hiring crews from low cost countries such as Thailand and Eastern Europe. Photo: Norwegian Air Shuttle

Halvor Vatnar, leader of the Norwegian Pilot Union, said that he did not believe that the company’s chief executive Bjørn Kjos had any intention of meeting his members half way.

“Our experience over the past four years is that Kjos want to get rid us, and that he is running a union busting strategy,” he said. “He does not want permanently employed pilots, but hired pilots on obscene terms.”

The company, he argued, was determined to force through a harsh reduction in the wages and employment rights enjoyed by its Scandinavian pilots, arguing that it was the only way for the airline to compete internationally.

“The overarching point is that the cost of pilots in Norway, Sweden and Denmark is too high,” Vatnar said. “It is required that our terms dramatically worsen if we intend to continue on the adventure that has been Norwegian.”

The Swedish Pilot’s Union on Tuesday pledged to mount a sympathy strike alongside Norwegian pilots if the strike goes ahead, starting from March 4.

Amongst other changes, pilots are being asked to accept a salary freeze and longer and less reliable hours, with the company threatening to lay off as many as 200 pilots if its demands are not met.

Lasse Sandakerveien-Nielsen, a press officer for the company, rejected the allegation that the company no longer wanted full-time pilots.

“On the contrary, Norwegian wants to retain its experienced and competent pilots in Scandinavia,” he said.

He pointed to the 1.6 billion kroner ($210m) loss the company recently posted for 2014, saying it showed that the pilots’ present working conditions were not sustainable.

“In light of this, there is no doubt that we must adapt to survive in the future and have an airline based in Norway,” he said.

German train strike wave to end following new labour agreement

“The German Train Drivers’ Union (GDL) and Deutsche Bahn have reached a wage agreement,” GDL said in a statement.

Further details will be announced in a press conference on Tuesday, the union said. A spokesman for Deutsche Bahn also confirmed that an agreement had been reached.

Train drivers have walked out six times since November, causing disruption for huge numbers of passengers.

The strikes have often lasted for several days and have also caused disruption to freight traffic, with the most recent walkout in mid-March.

In late January, rail traffic was paralysed for five days on the national network in one of the longest strikes in Deutsche Bahn’s history.

READ ALSO: Why are German train drivers launching more strike action?

Europe’s largest economy has faced industrial action for months as workers and management across multiple sectors wrestle over terms amid high inflation and weak business activity.

The strikes have exacerbated an already gloomy economic picture, with the German economy shrinking 0.3 percent across the whole of last year.

What we know about the new offer so far

Through the new agreement, there will be optional reduction of a work week to 36 hours at the start of 2027, 35.5 hours from 2028 and then 35 hours from 2029. For the last three stages, employees must notify their employer themselves if they wish to take advantage of the reduction steps.

However, they can also opt to work the same or more hours – up to 40 hours per week are possible in under the new “optional model”.

“One thing is clear: if you work more, you get more money,” said Deutsche Bahn spokesperson Martin Seiler. Accordingly, employees will receive 2.7 percent more pay for each additional or unchanged working hour.

According to Deutsche Bahn, other parts of the agreement included a pay increase of €420 per month in two stages, a tax and duty-free inflation adjustment bonus of €2,850 and a term of 26 months.

Growing pressure

Last year’s walkouts cost Deutsche Bahn some €200 million, according to estimates by the operator, which overall recorded a net loss for 2023 of €2.35 billion.

Germany has historically been among the countries in Europe where workers went on strike the least.

But since the end of 2022, the country has seen growing labour unrest, while real wages have fallen by four percent since the start of the war in Ukraine.

German airline Lufthansa is also locked in wage disputes with ground staff and cabin crew.

Several strikes have severely disrupted the group’s business in recent weeks and will weigh on first-quarter results, according to the group’s management.

Airport security staff have also staged several walkouts since January.

Some politicians have called for Germany to put in place rules to restrict critical infrastructure like rail transport from industrial action.

But Chancellor Olaf Scholz has rejected the calls, arguing that “the right to strike is written in the constitution… and that is a democratic right for which unions and workers have fought”.

The strikes have piled growing pressure on the coalition government between Scholz’s Social Democrats, the Greens and the pro-business FDP, which has scored dismally in recent opinion polls.

The far-right AfD has been enjoying a boost in popularity amid the unrest with elections in three key former East German states due to take place later this year.

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