SAS pilots might vote to strike again in two weeks

On Thursday, the SAS pilots learned the price they had to pay to end the strike. Now it is up to the members whether they want to accept the agreement.

“If we only think about the terms, it is probably the worst agreement a shop steward has ever brought home to SAS pilots. There is no great joy,” the leader of the Norwegian SAS pilots’ association, Roger Klokset, told the news website VG shortly after the meeting.

At 10:00 on Thursday, a closed meeting was held at Gardermoen for the members of the two Norwegian pilot associations Norske SAS-flygeres forbund and SAS Norge Flygerforening.

“Some time has passed, and we have been waiting for the result. But it’s a big setback for many,” says Jan Levi Skogvang, head of the SAS Norge Flygerforening, to VG.

After fifteen strike days and six intense days of negotiations, an agreement was reached between the SAS management and the SAS pilots on the night of Tuesday.

Now it is up to the members of the four unions in Sweden, Denmark and Norway whether they want to vote for the agreement that their representatives have negotiated in Stockholm.

“It will probably be posted over the weekend, and then there will be a two-week response deadline. If the agreement is voted down, five days will pass, and then we will be back on strike,” says Klokset.

Skogvang says that the agreement has been received with enthusiasm, but that there have been many questions: “There have been extensive changes, and we have needed to spend time explaining the consequences“.

Klokset agrees: “There are mixed feelings. The members are concerned about the consequences of this agreement for them. They go from a working week of 47.5 hours to one of 60 hours, it will be noticeable. They get a poorer balance between work and leisure, and less pay”.

This is the agreement on which pilots will vote:

• Five percent nominal wage decrease in 2022. Thereafter, the wage trend will follow an average of the front-line subjects in Norway and Sweden.
• The pilots’ working week increases from 47.5 hours to 60 hours. This is an increase of 26 percent.
• About 450 pilots who were made redundant during the pandemic will be allowed to return.
• The pilots have given up their right to strike until the agreement expires in 2027.
• SAS will be able to take out seasonal work part-time nine months a year, which could lead to a further reduction in wages for the pilots.
• The collective agreement is common to all pilots in SAS, including those who work in subsidiaries such as SAS Connect

Source: VG (Norway)