Finnair outsources 630 jobs in ground handling and cargo terminal operations

Workers worried about future stage walk-out, causing more disturbances to airline’s services

Lasse Heinonen

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Finnair is to outsource 630 of the staff on its payroll. The move takes place through two business transactions, in which Finnair’s ground handling subsidiary Northport sells its luggage handling and terminal level services to a company called Barona, while Finnair Cargo Terminal Operations passes its warehouse business to Suomen Transval.
      In the first deal, starting from today (Tuesday 1.12.), 500 Northport employees are transferred to Barona. In the second deal 130 jobs are handed over to Suomen Transval.
     
The transferred workers have reacted strongly to the move. More than 200 Northport ground service and check-in workers belonging to the Finnish Aviation Union (IAU) staged a walk-out in protest against the transaction. According to chief shop steward Pekka Kähkönen the workers would not return to their posts before 10 a.m. on Tuesday.
      As a result, new disturbances were expected to Finnair’s services. Only two weeks ago the airline’s operations ground to a total standstill for two days because of a strike by pilots.
      Finnair considered delays to and even cancellations of certain departures would be possible. Passengers travelling on Tuesday morning have been encouraged to stick to carry-on luggage only.
     
The preliminary contract regarding the transaction was made public already on November 12th. “It caused so much stir that we thought it would be best to realise the deal as quickly as possible”, says Finnair deputy chief executive officer Lasse Heinonen.
      In Heinonen's view the walk-out, “a regrettable, illegal industrial action”, did not come as a surprise. However, Heinonen is convinced that Barona, which operates on multiple lines of business, is able to provide the workers more secure jobs on a full-time basis than Finnair.
      Finnair’s problem has been the piling up of work for the hours around the departures and arrivals of the company’s long-haul Asian flights.
     
Heinonen does not want to tell how much money Finnair made with the two transactions, and how the arrangement will affect the firm’s profitability. As a result the company’s head count is now below the 8,000 mark. In 2000 the Finnair Group still gave work to 11,000 individuals.
      Chief shop steward Kähkönen is worried. People will be transferred to the new employer as old workers, but the new masters are an unknown quantity.
      In the past IAU has had bad experiences with outsourcing. In 2007 the ground services of Finland’s other airports were transferred to a company called RTG, which, according to Kähkönen, has continuously had problems with adhering to the collective labour agreement.
      Barona’s general manager Markus Oksa affirms that the company will comply with the agreed contracts. Staff transferred from Northport will be “encouraged” rather than ordered to other jobs in between the rush-hour peaks. Solutions will be sought jointly.
      From Barona’s point of view the deal is substantial. With it the company’s annual turnover will increase from EUR 100 million to EUR 120 million.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Pilots end strike - Finnair flight schedules getting back to normal (18.11.2009)
  Pilots´ strike forces cancellation of hundreds of Finnair flights (16.11.2009)
  Finnair puts up thousands of passengers in hotels (17.11.2009)

Links:
  Finnair Group: Walkout at Helsinki-Vantaa airport disrupts Finnair flight traffic
  Barona
  Suomen Transval (website in Finnish)

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