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STRIKES

Major airport strike in Norway averted

A deal was struck in the early hours of Wednesday morning to prevent a strike that threatened to close several airports in Norway to air traffic.

Published: 12 June 2024 11:16 CEST
Pictured is an airport terminal.
An airport strike that threatened to disrupt travel in Norway has been averted. Pictured is an airport terminal. Photo by Maëva Vigier on Unsplash

The employer organisation Spekter and the Norwegian Civil Service Union (NTL) agreed on a deal after talks extended past the deadline and into overtime.

The strike would have seen employees at state-owned airport operator Avinor walk out from midday Wednesday.

“Spekter (the employer’s association) and Avinor (the state-owned airport operator) are satisfied that, with the help of the national mediator, we reached an agreement with LO Stat/NTL (Norwegian Civil Service Union). In this way, we avoided a strike that would have greatly affected the air passengers and air traffic,” Anne-Kari Bratten at Spekter said.

Crucial operations such as fire and rescue services, technical maintenance, and administrative functions would have been disrupted because of the strike.

The strike being averted significantly lowers the risk of disruption at Norwegian airports this summer after an earlier deal was agreed upon for airport staff, and Norwegian pilots also signed the ink on a new wage package.

However, SAS cabin staff may still strike, with no deadline currently set for an agreement to be reached.

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STRIKES

Strike among Norway’s aircraft technicians called off

There will be no strike among aircraft technicians on Friday and during the weekend, as negotiations between employee and employer representatives have been successfully concluded.

Published: 21 June 2024 09:30 CEST
Strike among Norway's aircraft technicians called off

Roughly 1.8 million expected Norwegian weekend travellers can breathe a sigh of relief – the potential strike by aircraft technicians has been called off, with the Norwegian Aviation Technician Organisation (NFO) and NHO Luftfart reaching an agreement.

National mediator Mats Wilhelm Ruland announced the successful resolution of the negotiations, calling it “one of the most challenging mediations” this year.

“This is one of the most difficult mediations we have had this year. It is extra good to reach the finish line in such a dispute,” Ruland said, according to the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK).

Both parties expressed satisfaction with the outcome of the talks.

The agreement, confirmed by both employee and employer representatives, was reached after the initial deadline expired at midnight, with negotiations extending well into the early hours of Friday.

Background

The negotiations had broken down in May, and a failure to reach an agreement would have led to a strike starting Friday morning, potentially disrupting travel for many as the summer holidays for school pupils begin this weekend.

Avinor reported that up to 1.8 million travellers are expected to pass through Norway’s four largest airports in the next two weeks.

A strike would have impacted maintenance and repairs for airlines such as SAS, Norwegian, and Widerøe.

Erik Lahnstein, the head of NHO Luftfart, expressed relief at avoiding a strike.

“We are very happy that we avoided a strike and that thousands of passengers are not affected by aviation disruption now that we are heading into the summer holidays,” he said.

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