“Antiquarian” and “anti-worker”: the criticism comes from the head of Wizz Air

Barely a week has passed since the Hungarian low-cost airline Wizz Air announced its entry into the Norwegian domestic flight market. Already during the press conference, where founder and CEO József Váradi presented his plans for cheap flights between Oslo, Bergen, Tromsø and Trondheim, strong competition was directed at the competition in Norway.

In an interview with DN, Váradi delves into his criticism of Norway, and especially of the trade union culture in the country. The head of Wizz Air is a staunch opponent of unions and believes that unions lead to inefficiency.

– Look at all the airlines that have been occupied by unions, they are all on the verge of bankruptcy, he tells DN.

– Very strange

The Minister of Labor and Social Affairs, Henrik Asheim (H), believes that Váradi’s statements bear witness to a lack of understanding of working life in Norway.

– It may seem that the Wizz Air manager does not know or understand Norwegian working life and, above all, understands how we want Norwegian working life to be, he says, adding:

– Your vision of unions is, to put it mildly, very foreign.

Asheim believes that organization in working life is a good thing for Norwegian companies.

– Trade unions play a key role in the workplace, for conflict resolution, good cooperation and for ensuring good wages and working conditions. A high degree of organization is a competitive advantage for Norway and improves Norwegian working life, says Asheim.

– Hostile to workers

The Conservative minister is supported by opposition politician Hadia Tajik, who is the Labor Party’s fiscal policy spokesperson.

– What Váradi says is old-fashioned and anti-worker. It shows a complete lack of understanding of the Norwegian success story and working life pattern, he says.

Tajik believes that it is unacceptable to enter the Norwegian market without ensuring that employees have the same rights as competitors.

– We in the Labor Party will never accept a working life in which the unions stay away.

– What exactly can be done to ensure safe working conditions for Wizz Air employees in Norway?

– We have freedom of association in Norway, and in the Labor Party we want to facilitate the organization. In aviation, it has not been uncommon to create a structure in which it is more difficult to know who the employee should deal with. We want this to be clearer and we are happy to initiate laws that can do just that.

– Antiquarian

The remarks also do not sit well with Nina Nordheim Pedersen, leader of the LO Kabinansattes Forbund union.

– The attitudes of the Wizz-Air manager towards ordinary employees seem outdated. When they go to operate in Norway, where the whole foundation for a successful Norwegian working life is tripartite cooperation and the Norwegian model, this sounds very bad, he says.

The union leader believes that society will be harmed by the way Wizz Air runs a company.

– These activities should be considered a threat to Norwegian working life. It is surprising that they do not see that cooperation, good solutions and unions are what contribute to good and healthy companies and societies, he says.

She has the support of LO leader Hans-Christian Gabrielsen, who believes that Váradi’s statements are a disrespectful attack on workers and their rights.

– Norwegian working life does not need attitudes as old-fashioned as the Wizz Air boss says.

– An attack on everything we have and everything we are in Norway

Another strongly reacting to Váradi’s remarks is union leader Yngve Carlsen of the Norwegian Pilots Association. You think the Wizz Air boss doesn’t know what he’s talking about.

– Obviously, you don’t know what the trade union movement represents either. It is precisely an organized working life, a central salary formation and good partisan cooperation that has contributed to building the country and is the basis of our social model. An attempt to discredit this recipe for success in this context is not just an attack on the trade union movement, but, as I see it, also an attack on everything we have and are in Norway.

Of Wizz Air’s total expenses, only nine percent are salary costs, which are well below the level of competitors such as SAS and Norwegian. Carlsen believes this indicates that Wizz Air does not relate to salaries, pensions and other social costs in the same way as its competitors.

– His whole argument that he pays market wages becomes vague. If the wage share at Wizz Air is less than ten percent, then you do not pay the market wage. This may be due to the fact that Wizz Air may operate with employment models that are not allowed in Norway, where the employees are actually freelancers hired through third parties.

Wizz Air CEO József Váradi has not yet responded to the criticism.(Terms)Copyright Dagens Næringsliv AS and / or our suppliers. We would like you to share our cases via a link, which leads directly to our pages. Copying or other use of all or part of the content may only be made with written permission or as permitted by law. For more terms, see here.