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Ksenija Movsesjan (24) has been working as a cabin crew member for SAS for a year and a half. Now, she and several other crew members are demanding better working conditions.
Movsesjan started with a salary of zero, equivalent to a fixed monthly salary of 27,500 Norwegian kroner. Now, a year and a half later, her salary remains at the same level. Within six months, she will have the opportunity to be promoted and get a raise.
– Movsesjan said that in the first stage of salary, the salary will be $28,000 per month.
Martinus Røkkum, head of the Norwegian Cabin Association at SAS, said that wages for SAS cabin crew have remained stagnant for 12 years.
– Earlier this week, he told NTB that our wages have actually been stagnant for 12 years, while wages in other companies have been gradually rising, which means they have fallen far behind.
The NHO aviation industry and the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions are in mandatory mediation with the ombudsman on Thursday evening. The deadline to reach an agreement is midnight Friday night. If they do not agree, SAS employees can go on strike on Friday morning.
“We don’t get overtime pay. If I leave work at 9 p.m. and the flight is delayed for a few hours, we get nothing. I understand that passengers may be upset because they have somewhere to go. In the meantime, we work a few hours for free,” Movsesjan said.
They also do not accept evening grants, night grants or weekend grants.
– I can start at 3pm and finish at 2am. Then I won’t get paid more than I want just for the shorter shift during the day.
– We have to sell our days off
The union was unable to comment tonight due to ongoing mediation, but union secretary Dag-Einar Sivertsen of Fellesforbundet previously said that this is a Wages and working conditions in this industry are very poor compared to other industries in Norway.
– We in the cabin are just tired. Sivertsen says the limits of flexibility have long been exceeded.
Movsesyan agreed.
– I think it’s a bit unfair because most other jobs have evening allowances in addition to their salary, but we don’t.
She also said she had to give up her days off to make enough money.
– I and several other colleagues had to sell our days off to survive.
This means they have to take on extra shifts on top of their normal shifts to earn enough money. Movsesjan said if they work six hours or more of overtime, their monthly salary will increase by 14%.
She said guards would receive a subsidy of 8 percent of their monthly salary if they worked fewer than six hours.
– I think the situation should be such that you can sell your days off if you want, but the pay shouldn’t be so low that you feel you have to do it to survive, she said.
The Association of Flight Attendants announced that its 115 members will be fired from the first strike, which begins Friday, if no agreement is reached by a midnight deadline Friday evening.
– Looking forward to reaching an agreement
SAS Norge Øystein Schmidt’s press manager told VG that they hope to reach an agreement before the deadline.
– Our focus is now on the mediation in Riksmekleren, with the clear expectation that we will together reach an agreement that is acceptable to both parties in the long term. It is important for us to emphasize that traffic will run normally until a possible conflict occurs.
Oystein Schmidt
But he said if a strike occurred, they would do everything they could to limit its scope.
– In this case, it should be noted that initially only minor traffic consequences will occur.
– For those passengers who may be affected by flight cancellations or delays, we will make every effort to get them off the aircraft as quickly as possible. Schmidt said that as a member of IATA, it may also be appropriate to rebook tickets on another airline to minimize the impact on passengers.
Although SAS is confident they will reach a solution, Riksmekler Mats Wilhelm Ruland said it was a demanding mediation process.
“It’s too early to say how long we will hold out, but I don’t think we will get clarification before the midnight deadline expires,” Ruland told NRK after 19:00.
– In the aviation sector, working time in particular, but also financial issues are quite complex and often more complex than other collective agreements, so it is a difficult, demanding issue to mediate.
Ruland told the channel that, as with all other mediations, there is a risk of a strike, but he hopes the talks will end
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