SAS faces threat of new cabin crew strike in Norway

The ballot concluded on 30 July and both Fellesforbundet and Parat have now issued notice of industrial action. The notice has a four-day deadline, which means that all members covered by SAS’s Norwegian cabin agreement could be called out on strike from Saturday. This is reported by Dagens Näringsliv.

According to Parat, the members have clearly signalled that the mediation proposal is not sufficient to reduce the pay gap compared with competing airlines or improve working conditions.

- Our members expect an agreement that to a greater extent reduces the significant pay gap while also creating greater predictability in everyday life, says Martinus Røkkum, chair of Parat’s cabin association within SAS Norway.

The union says that cabin crew have fallen behind in pay over several years and today earn more than 20 per cent less than colleagues at comparable companies, including Norwegian.

At the same time, both Parat and Fellesforbundet stress that they still hope for a negotiated solution before the strike breaks out. Fellesforbundet’s chief negotiator Dag-Einar Sivertsen says that dialogue with SAS and the employers’ organisation NHO Luftfart can resume at any time before Saturday.