Finnair pilots' strike averted last night

Employee side declines settlement proposal - negotiations set to continue

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The Finnish national carrier Finnair’s pilot strike has been called off, even though on Sunday evening the pilots’ interest organisation, the Finnish Air Line Pilots' Association (SLL), turned down the National Conciliator Juhani Salonius’s proposal for a settlement.
      The Association of Support Service Industries (ASSI) representing the employer Finnair would have accepted the proposal.
      A decision was made to continue the talks on Wednesday.
      The industrial action would have been realised as a five-day selective strike, the first day of which would have been Wednesday and the second day Friday of this week.
      Salonius considered the decision “exceptional”. He did see it as positive, though, that there is still a desire to continue the negotiations.
     
Peter Forsström, managing director of the Association of Support Service Industries, did not hide his disappointment when an agreement was not reached. “The cancellation of an industrial action, however, is a good thing”, he added.
      Salonius’s proposal presented on Friday would have covered the next two years and would have included a small raise for the pilots.
      The money issue was not what overturned the agreement, but the important formulation questions related to retirement benefits and the use of outside labour. The pilots’ council rejected the proposal unanimously.
      The pilots are opposed to changes to the employees’ retirement benefits. For most of the Finnair commercial pilots the retirement age is 55-60 years. A minority of older pilots still have a chance to retire at the age of 52.
      The employer would like to raise the age limit to 60 years.
     
The real hot potato was Finnair’s desire to increase the use of external labour in its operations. In the pilots’ view, Finnair’s pilot work cannot be outsourced without an agreement with the SLL.
      According to the SLL, the use of external labour means that the Finnair pilots are left without work. In the SLL’s view the pilots have so far been remarkably flexible when comes to the use of external help under special circumstances. In the association’s view the same practice could have continued.
      President of the SLL Timo Willberg clarified the pilots’ unique labour market policy by stating that the SLL does not crave for a strike but wants a negotiated solution.
      “Back to square one”, he told the press. Willberg suspects that the talks will continue for quite some time.
      The negotiations have already lasted for four months, for the pilots have already been without a contract since November. Last spring, after lengthy talks, both parties agreed on a half-year break to think things over.
     
Finnair pilots have only ever been on strike for two hours, back in the 1970s.
      The threat of a new strike already caused emotions to stir within the company. Last week six separate Finnair personnel organisations voiced their disapproval of the pilots’ demands and strike threats.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Finnair pilots launch industrial action - overtime ban takes effect from late Tuesday night (4.6.2008)
  Labour Court fines all sides in Finnair strike (24.10.2006)

Links:
  Finnair Group

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