The SAS pilot fears a “dirty” attack on Danish colleagues
– Then a SAS plane will never take off in Norway again, says Roger Klokset.
During nine months of negotiations between the pilots’ unions and the SAS management, a joint, Scandinavian agreement has always been negotiated.
Now Roger Klokset, leader of the Norwegian SAS pilots’ association, believes that the management’s next step may be to force an agreement with the pilots in Denmark alone.
The labor market for SAS pilots is common in Scandinavia. The jobs in Denmark are also the jobs of Norwegian and Swedish pilots, Klokset explains.
– An attack on our Danish unions is therefore an attack on everyone. If SAS succeeds in crushing the Danish unions, the race is on.
And the employer has a powerful weapon in Danish law.
Comment: “This conflict is about what kind of working life we want”
– It is likely that the pilots will be released from the collective agreement
After the pilots have been on strike for a minimum of four days, SAS in Denmark can request what is called a liberating conflict.
It will then be an urgent matter that is decided in the court system, with a probable outcome that the pilots will be released from their collective agreement, according to Klokset.
If SAS frees itself, another union could take over the agreement and potentially offer far worse terms. This is what happened when SAS controversially set up new subsidiaries in the autumn of 2021.
– Then our Danish friends will be without a job. They will be offered to join a new agreement, where seniority and terms are reset and distributed to “first come, first served”, distributed in a limited number of places, says Klokset to FriFagbevægelse.
– Then AS will have won, and brutally down a union, broken the union leader.
– The culmination of a 20-year-long attempt at union crushing
Therefore, it was a unanimous decision when the striking pilots on Tuesday held a large meeting at Gardermoen with over 200 participants present:
– If SAS tries this grip in Denmark, a SAS aircraft will never take off in Norway again, says Klokset to FriFagbevægelse.
The same signal was sent from colleagues in Sweden.
Then the Norwegian and Swedish pilots will not enter into a new collective agreement with SAS. In that case, it will involve a permanent strike until the original Danish collective agreement is reintroduced.
The only thing that hinders the company management is, according to the union leader, that on paper it is a “dirty move”.
When many already think SAS is going too far, says Klokset, a liberating conflict in Denmark can be perceived as too gross a violation.
– In isolation, we have had nine months of negotiations, but this is actually the culmination of a 20-year-long attempt to crush unions. We can not help burn down the Scandinavian models on our watch, says Klokset.
Why are SAS pilots on strike? Here is their side of the story
The SAS management does not respond
After repeated attempts, no one in the press service to SAS has responded to FriFagbevægelse’s inquiries.
Neither Alexandra Lindgren Kaoukji, press manager at SAS Denmark and internationally, nor Tonje Sund, press manager at SAS Norway, have black questions about liberating conflicts or Klokset’s statements.