FRIDAY NIGHT: FINNAIR CABIN CREW STRIKE SETTLED

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FRIDAY EVENING UPDATE 22:00
     
A settlement was reached at about 9:00 PM on Friday in a strike by cabin crew of the Finnish national airline Finnair. Both sides in the dispute accepted a mediation proposal by National Conciliator Juhani Salonius. The striking employees are to return to work immediately. The settlement guarantees new Finnair employees the same pay that is stipulated in the existing contract.
     
     
EARLIER FRIDAY:
     
The strike by flight attendants of the Finnish national airline Finnair continues on Friday, after a compromise offered by Finnair in the labour dispute was rejected.
      The airline has flown a few flights with managerial staff filling in for striking flight attendants.
      Meanwhile, security measures at Helsinki-Vantaa airport are tighter than usual because of the Lahti EU summit.
      In Thursday’s talks Finnair offered a compromise in which all 188 flight attendants on fixed-term contracts would be given permanent positions. However the offer was rejected, as Finnair would not move on the issue that sparked the dispute - the plan to recruit new flight attendants through its Estonian subsidiary Aero Airlines, paying them 30 percent less than what Finnair cabin crew earn.
     
Finnair information officer Usko Määttä says that the airline will manage to fly more planes than it did yesterday, although significantly fewer than on a normal day.
      Talks aimed at a resolution to the dispute continue in the afternoon under the mediation of National Conciliator Juhani Salonius.
     
Finnair says that it will be able to fly a few more flights on Friday than it managed on Thursday, although the Transport Workers’ Union (AKT) announced on Thursday that it would support the strike by ordering its members not to fuel Finnair planes.
      Finnair says that the move will not affect the flights that it operates: the fuel tanks can be filled while abroad, and managerial staff can also be used in the fuelling in Finland.
      All of Finnair’s holiday charter flights are to be flown on Friday. There will also be more scheduled flights in Europe, to Barcelona and Budapest, for instance - destinations that are popular among families on their autumn holiday.
     
Scheduled services to be flown include flights to Barcelona, Budapest, Brussels, London, Paris, Rome, Stockholm, and Tallinn. In addition, Finncom Airlines is to fly two daily Finnair flights to Stuttgart, and one daily flight to Dusseldorf and Oslo.
      Finnair also has codeshare flights with a number of airline partners to a number of European destinations.
      Domestically, there will be services from Helsinki to Oulu, Kuopio, and Tampere.
      On Thursday, Finnair managed to fly just one in four of its flights. The airline estimates that it is incurring losses of about EUR 2.5 million each day that the strike continues.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Finnair cabin crew strike begins - most scheduled flights cancelled (19.10.2006)

Links:
  Finnair website: Finnair returns to normal schedules gradually starting Friday evening

Helsingin Sanomat