Blue 1 pilots stage half-day walkout after airline announces job cuts

print this

Blue 1, a Finnish airline which is part of the Nordic SAS Group, plans to cut between 80 and 90 jobs. Included among the staff to be let go are a third of the company’s approximately 100 pilots.
      Responding to the news, Blue 1 pilots held a walkout from 5:00 Wednesday morning to noon, forcing the airline to cancel at least ten flights.
     
SAS and Blue 1 head of communications Tom Christides said on Wednesday that the cuts stem from tougher price competition and higher costs, stemming primarily from the rise in the price of jet fuel.
      The exact number of jobs to be cut remains open. Co-determination talks between management and personnel ended late last month.
      Christides said early Wednesday that the walkout, which he denounced as illegal, has affected between 600 and 700 passengers, for whom the airline would try to find an alternative routing.
     
According to Juhani Lehto, the chairman of the association representing the airline’s pilots, the reason for the action was that the airline had broken promises that it had made to its staff.
      Lehto notes that the labour contract was changed a year ago at the employer’s initiative, reducing pay in return for a promise of better job security.
      The first of the job cuts were implemented on Tuesday and the downsizing process is to be completed by next spring.
     


Links:
  Blue 1

Helsingin Sanomat