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Cabin employees and pilots at Stordalen’s Sunclass Airlines airline were told the company would go bankrupt if they did not accept a series of cuts, including a 20 percent pay cut.
Petter Stordalen’s Sunclass Airlines will cut employee wages. Here from the press conference where Stordalen announced the purchase of the travel company Ving, for which Sunclass is the flight operator.
Janerik Henriksson / TT News Agency / NTB scanpix
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On Monday, pilots and cabin crew at Stordalen’s airline voted to accept the cut proposals the administration had put before them.
In connection with the presentation of the proposed cuts, management informed employees that if they did not accept major cuts, the company would go bankrupt.
As a result, employees voted to accept a series of cuts to save their jobs, including a 20 percent pay cut.
– We are all in the same boat or plane, if you want. They also ask me to lower my salary. I understand that it is frustrating, but there is something we must do for the company to survive, says Lisbeth Nedergaard, Communications Manager for Sunclass Airlines at E24.
These cuts suggest that the airline
Great cuts in the group
The cut proposal comes in connection with Petter Stordalen’s Nordt Leisure Travel Group (NLTG) cut 20 to 30 percent off your costs.
The company is made up of charter companies Ving in Norway and Sweden, Globetrotter in Sweden, Spies in Denmark, Tjäreborg in Finland, Sunclass Airlines and several Ving-affiliated hotels.
The Group has stated to E24 that both the corona crisis and the bad times in the company in previous seasons are the reason why it should be greatly reduced in the companies.
Sunclass Airlines operates charter flights for NLTG travel companies and has around 1,200 employees. Around 150 of these work in Norway.
– problematic
Negotiations between employees and the company are still ongoing. The cabin crew is organized in the Parat employee organization.
Negotiation manager Turid Svendsen in Parat does not want to comment on the negotiations as they are ongoing, but says that they are generally skeptical of wage cuts as a saving tool.
– We believe that it is problematic to use a salary cut as a saving measure. It is important to society that people maintain their purchasing power, and a pay cut is rampant, says Svendsen.
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She notes that Parat understands that wage cuts can be exceptionally a temporary solution to get out of a crisis. It is not a temporary cut that is currently being negotiated at Sunclass.
Svendsen also points out that they generally believe that a pay cut requires company managers and owners to also set a good example and cut their own wages.
E24 has gained access to the Parat information that has been sent to employees in the negotiation process. In these documents, the workers’ organization notes that management only wants to cut half of what pilots and cabin crew are asked to do.
According to communications manager Lisbeth Nedergaard, it is still unclear how much the administration will cut its own salaries.
– We are still negotiating that. Managers are employed on individual contracts. Their salary is determined by recognized standards and corresponds to the content and responsibilities of the positions, says Nedergaard.
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– You have to turn every stone
Therefore, it is not clear whether management will drop a certain percentage of salary. Still, Nedergaard believes that pay cuts are successful so that those who can bear the best can bear the heaviest burden.
– The requirements are made on the basis of a survey of expenses and wages. Many different factors have been considered, including salary developments, as well as current and future market conditions for various staff groups, says Nedergaard.
She confirms that employees have been informed that the company will go bankrupt if employees do not accept a significant pay cut.
– The current situation in the industry is very serious, and many airlines have already been forced to say goodbye to thousands of employees. During a period without profit, we at Sunclass Airlines also have to change every stone to ensure that costs are kept low. The biggest expense we have is salary, so we are also forced to ask all employees to contribute and help ensure Sunclass survives, says Nedergaard.
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Disagree on salary level
The communications manager also notes that the salary level of most professional groups at Sunclass is higher than on other airlines as one of the reasons why the company believes that it is necessary to reduce wages.
Discusses Thorbjørn Meland, who is a board representative at the Sunclass Airlines cabin association. He does not want to comment further on the matter while negotiations are ongoing.
– We think we are on par with the companies we compare ourselves to in Norway, he writes to E24 in a text message.
According to Statistics Norway salary statistics for 2019, the average monthly salary before tax was NOK 90,190 for pilots and NOK 36,730 for air travelers. Sunclass and Parat also point out that there are wide variations within occupational groups, due to different pay levels and additions that vary from company to company. For competitive reasons, Parat does not want to come out with payment statistics for individual companies.
