– Probably has an expectation of being compensated – E24
The cabin crew of Stordalen’s airline Sunclass received an ultimatum and went down 20 percent in salary. Well, all employees are back at work, but the company says the continuing challenges associated with the pandemic.
– Our members probably have an expectation of being compensated for the wage reduction the company made when the pandemic started, says shop steward Thorbjørn Meland in Parat.
In the spring of 2020, about six months after Petter Stordalen acquired the Ving Group, employees of the company’s airline were informed that it would be struck if the employees did not accept a number of cuts.
Among other things, this meant a cut of 20 percent in the salaries of pilots and cabin crew.
Representative Meland says that everyone has now been taken back from redundancy and that they do not have employee redundancies through their foreheads.
– We are naturally very happy that we are back on the wings and that people want to go on holiday, Meland says.
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Sunclass employees in Sweden and Denmark also agreed to cuts.
Sunclass Airlines’ Head of Communications Sofie Lund confirms to E24 that a pay cut was introduced.
– Our industry has continued, and will continue to have, challenges related to the pandemic. Therefore, it is absolutely central to focus on costs, including salary levels. We will do the same in the future, Lund writes in an e-mail.
– Is it relevant to have wages at the level they were at before the pandemic before or at the spring wage settlement?
– We do not discuss these matters via the press, but have a dialogue internally with representatives of the professional group, Lund writes.
In 2020, the airline Sunclass Airlines lost DKK 475 million after tax, according to the annual accounts. The amount corresponded to 645 million Norwegian kroner.
The operating profit landed at minus 528 million Danish kroner, corresponding to minus 717 million kroner.
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Fewer employees
When the accounts were published in March, there were 875 full-time employees in the company, which is equivalent and costs more than 20 percent of all employees. The fast costs were cut by 25 to 30 percent.
Together with the acquisition fund Altor and TDR, Stordalen’s Strawberry Group bought up the Ving group after the British tourism giant Thomas Cook went bankrupt in the autumn of 2019.
Strawberry Group and Altor bought 40 percent of each company, and TDR Capital bought the remaining 20 percent.
Thomas Cook’s Nordic company included Ving in Norway and Sweden, Spies in Denmark and Tjäreborg in Finland, in addition to Sunclass Airlines, such as Thomas Cook Airlines before the acquisition.