Advertisement

SAS

SAS strike continues with 40 more flights axed

The Local Denmark
The Local Denmark - [email protected]
SAS strike continues with 40 more flights axed
The Danish Labour Court has now been asked to intervene in the conflict that has destroyed the weekend travel plans of hundreds. Photo: Simon Skipper/Scanpix

A strike by SAS cabin personnel entered its third day on Sunday with no immediate end in sight, as hundreds of passengers are left in the lurch.

Advertisement

As of shortly before 11am, SAS airline had cancelled 40 Sunday flights – 26 arrivals and 14 departures – because of a work stoppage by cabin personnel. Well over 70 flights have been cancelled since the employees walked off the job Friday morning
 
SAS leadership thought they had struck a deal with the Cabin Attendants Union (CAU) that would see the striking workers return to the job Saturday evening. The strike, however, continued and talks stalled out. 
 
The airline now says it will not resume negotiations until the workers go back on the job.
 
“We have said the whole time that we will not negotiate with employees who have walked off the job. That’s not the way it works in relation to the rules of the job market. When they have illegally stopped working, we are not ready to negotiate. Work needs to resume and then we are ready to negotiate, as we have earlier said,” SAS spokeswoman Trine Kromann-Mikkelsen told TV2. 
 
Around 140 cabin personnel are striking because of SAS’s plan to move them to the cheaper collective bargaining agreement of recently-acquired Cimber airlines. 
 
Industry analysts predicted back in December that SAS’s plans to move the employees to the Cimber brand – and its bargaining agreement – would likely lead to a strike. 
 
SAS said Sunday it would now take the case to the Danish Labour Court (Arbejdsretten). 
 
A separate strike by SAS baggage crew also cancelled flights on Tuesday. It was the baggage handlers' third strike in eight months.

More

Join the conversation in our comments section below. Share your own views and experience and if you have a question or suggestion for our journalists then email us at [email protected].
Please keep comments civil, constructive and on topic – and make sure to read our terms of use before getting involved.

Please log in to leave a comment.

See Also