The deadline for mediation between the pilots and SAS expired on Monday at 12 noon.
After being postponed four times, the parties came out to update the press on the status just after 12 o’clock.
– Very dissapointed
There it became clear that it ended with a break in the mediation between the pilots and SAS after intense negotiations.
– We are very disappointed. This should be the summer everyone looked forward to traveling again. This is also bad news for the company, says Anko van der Werff.
– RASE: SAS chief Anko van der Werff was furious when the strike became a fact. Photo: Chris Anderson / TT
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The SAS chief believes it is selfish of the pilots to go on strike.
– We’ve had the worst pandemic in our time. I find it a shame that this is the way the pilots choose to pay back, says van der Werff.
– Shockingly low understanding
SAS’s top manager believes a strike at this time puts the company’s future and the jobs of thousands of employees at risk.
– The decision to go on strike now shows a ruthless behavior from the pilots’ unions and a shockingly low understanding of the critical situation that SAS is in, says van der Werff.
– Do not dare to order
SAS’s chief negotiator, Marianne Hærnes, confirms that within 24 hours, all SAS aircraft will be on the ground.
Hærnes says the main core of the conflict, and what they have not been able to agree on, is SAS’s savings plan SAS-forward.
The company is in a major financial crisis, and will have to save 800 million Swedish kroner.
Negotiated to the end
Hærnes says that their door is open, and that they will contact the pilots again to try to find a solution.
– We have postponed time and time again, and we see that ticket sales drop every time there is a new postponement. People do not dare to order, she says.
The mediation lasted until 11.59, Monday.
– SAS is in an enormously difficult financial situation, and with a political conflict at the top, it will be very difficult, says Hærnes.
– Sorry
– We have not succeeded in agreeing with SAS. We have been in long negotiations, and we have come a long way. But no matter how far we go, it is not enough, says Martin Lindgren, who is the leader of the SAS section of the Swedish Pilot Association.
Lindgren now apologizes to the company’s customers.
– We hope that we can return to the negotiating table, but then the employer must stretch, he says.
When asked if the time of the strike could have been added to a different time than the joint holiday, Lindgren answers:
– The time is not chosen for a special reason. It is SAS that has forced us into a strike.
– Painted in a corner
The leader of the Norwegian SAS pilots’ association, Roger Klokset, also places the blame on SAS.
– We have been with a full delegation for three weeks, and SAS did not field a full team until the last three days. There was absolutely no movement until the last few days, and it is disappointing, says Klokset.
The pilot says it is a defeat not to reach an agreement.
– Now we are there that our customers do not come on summer vacation, and we deeply regret that. But we were painted in a corner, and we had no other choice. We have gone as far as possible to reach an agreement, but the distance was too great, says Klokset.
The root of the conflict
During the pandemic, the SAS staffing companies established SAS Link and SAS Connect.
At the same time as the new companies were created, about 560 SAS pilots lost their jobs.
It has created an internal conflict.
The organized SAS pilots have believed that the company tried to deviate from its obligations to bring back the dismissed pilots.
SAS, for its part, rejected this and believed that the company complied with all agreements entered into.
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