SAS CEO wants pilots back at the negotiating table and seeks industry-wide agreement

SAS and the pilots have still not returned to the negotiating table. Now the CEO wants an industry-wide agreement in place to stop the recurring conflicts. “All we want is an even playing field. When it is in place, we can stop the eternal quarrels,” says SAS CEO Anko van der Werff.

Both the pilot unions and SAS say they are ready to continue negotiations and the mediators are at their disposal. Still, the bargaining room is empty. The airline’s CEO Anko van der Werff can not explain why. “To be honest, I’m not entirely sure. I think what has to happen is that it moves in the positions,” he says.

In a press release on Thursday, the Swedish Pilot Association went along with the sacrifices they have offered to join the negotiations. It mentioned reduced wages by 5 percent, up to a 60-hour working week, forced part-time work with reduced wages during the off-season and no summer holidays. A list that, according to the pilot association, was rejected by management.

The pilots have indicated that SAS has never wanted to reach an agreement and that a forced strike would be a way to justify the Chapter 11 reorganisation application that was submitted to a US court earlier this week.

“It is obviously not true,” says Anko van der Werff. He points out that a reorganisation according to American Chapter 11 has always been included in the plans for the rescue project SASForward.

But van der Werff believes that the Scandinavian model as it stands in the aviation market does not work well, as there is no industry-wide agreement on employee conditions. “All we want is an even playing field. When it’s in place, we can stop the eternal quarrels. There is no industry that strikes as often as the aviation industry.”

Source: Dagens Nyheter