They are not Eastern European monkeys – E24

When the EU won ten new Eastern European member states in 2004, Jozsef Varadi and Wizz Air were ready at the airports and transporting people west to new jobs and opportunities. Two years later, they passed five million passengers. Today, the company has 120 aircraft, covers 710 destinations in 41 countries and has exceeded 200 million passengers by a good margin.

Now, the Hungarian low-cost airline will conquer Norway.

“Gun to the neck”

Wizz Air uses the money deposit to hijack new markets during the corona pandemic. In Norway, it created a storm when they opened 15 domestic routes and parked planes in Oslo and Trondheim this fall.

The investment is described as “a gun to the neck of Norwegian and SAS.” Both companies have pleaded for the government’s crisis packages to survive.

With his declaration that Wizz Air is a “non-union airline”, Varadi has achieved something as rare as uniting the Norwegian right and left in a unison condemnation of the company’s position.

– I will not fly with a company that refuses to organize workers, Prime Minister Erna Solberg said in October.

Varadi (55) described those who want to boycott the company as “childish” in an interview with Dagens Næringsliv.

However, he praises the relationship with the Norwegian authorities during the establishment, when VG asks.

– I must say that the Norwegian government has done very well. They have been non-discriminatory and favorable to the market. The Norwegian government is one of the best, says Varadi, who has repeatedly complained that national authorities protect local actors.

– A hell of a debate

When VG asks Varadi about his opinion on unions, he starts with the nuances.

– First of all, I want to say that the creation of trade unions does not depend on me or anyone else in the company, it is a constitutional right of everyone in the countries where we operate. I will not interfere. No one should interfere.

Wizz Air has around 4,000 employees and is worth NOK 30-40 billion.

– We have a great debate in Norway about trade unions, but that is not my decision. It is not the decision of the company or the unions, it is the decision of the employees.

Varadi claims that unions can hurt profits and be used for things other than wage demands.

– Of course, people use unions to some extent as a way to get revenge on the company, says Varadi.

Can close Norwegian bases

Wizz Air recently lost in the Romanian Supreme Court, which found that the company discriminated against 19 people who started a union. When asked directly by VG, Varadi does not respond in more detail how the company relates to the verdict, but claims that the case was different from the one that has arisen.

This summer, the CEO told an industry website that “if the unions try to capture and kill us, we will just close the base and move.”

– Is there anything you want to do here in Norway, if your employees organize in a union?

– I think we’ll cross the bridge when we get there. We have to look at the situation.

– So it is not excluded that you close and move if the employees organize?

– We observe changes in the conditions of the company and then we evaluate how we structure it. That would be a significant impact that we must consider. In line with changes in airport costs, government obstacles or government fees.

– Is the professional organization one of the parameters you want to evaluate according to?

– Absolutely.

Instead of unions, the company has created the “Wizz People Council”, which will convey employee views to management.

– Do you have formal power?

– They do not have a formalized power of attorney, but they have a lot to say in the company, says the CEO, pointing out that employees have increased their salaries on average by around 25 percent in the last five years.

Stays close to salary level

According to the website Glassdoor.com, where current and former employees post salary information, British pilots at Wizz Air earn around 190,000 crowns at the current crown exchange rate.

Varadi hesitates when VG asks how much employees earn.

– This depends on the country. I guess you pay less to people who come from Central and Eastern European countries and pick raspberries, than you pay to the average Norwegian.

– But I can tell you that in all the markets in which we operate, we pay very competitive salaries.

One of the accusations from the Norwegian unions is that Wizz Air brings in cabin crew who are paid locally in Eastern Europe and fly nationally in Norway, with much lower wages than Norwegian competitors.

– As far as it goes? What is the lowest possible salary for a flight attendant at Wizz Air?

– I think this is a totally irrelevant question, because it must be contextualized with the market. You have to see how it relates to what someone earns in the restaurant or supermarket. We pay very competitively. That is why people work for us.

– I can tell you that in the UK, a market with higher wages, we pay twice as much money, if not more, than elsewhere.

– But what is the lowest possible salary for a flight attendant working for Wizz Air?

– I won’t tell you, because I think you’ll use it against me. And you want to take it out of context.

– Isn’t it cool to be open about pay?

– Oh yes, but is it modern to constantly lie in the media in Norway?

– Who lies?

– That’s what happened.

– Who lies?

– Norwegian media, says Varadi and adds:

– We have consistently seen that statements and sentences are taken out of context, twisted and presented to readers.

Varadi refuses to declare the company’s lowest salary, but says VG can be told how much the lowest paid flight attendant employed in Norway receives in salary. The next day, the response came by email from the communications manager, Sanja Pavel.

– At the moment we do not have local Norwegian employees.

VG has asked Wizz Air to submit a list of what the CEO believes to be lies in the Norwegian media or where the statements have been taken out of context.

Varadi does not want to submit, VG is informed.

– We may be the same or we may not like them, but we will be treated fairly. And we will insist on that, Varadi tells VG about how he wants the company to be mentioned in the Norwegian media.

Missing women

The head of Wizz Air constantly complains about discrimination in the aviation industry, government subsidies to others and that Wizz Air does not have the same opportunities.

The company’s commercials are full of happy young women. But in top management there are boxes.

– ME leather teamet theirs are just two of the eleven female members, which is the lowest proportion compared to SAS, Widerøe and Norwegian. Don’t you know of a competent woman to fill any of the positions at Wizz Air now held by men?

– It is changing and improving. But the simple fact is that in Scandinavia, there are probably 30 to 40 percent women in parliament. And in business, there is a large proportion of women in key positions. On the European continent, that number is decreasing. We are falling behind.

– In the broader term, we are approaching 30 percent (women leaders, editor’s note). This is something we are working on and trying to improve. We realize that we actually have to push ourselves to provide opportunities for our women.

– Does Wizz Air have internal guidelines against discrimination?

– Of course. Listen, listen, we are listed on the London Stock Exchange. So don’t try to create an image that these people are monkeys who come from Central and Eastern Europe, and they don’t know how people in countries like Norway behave. We are evaluated with the highest standards of corporate governance, says Varadi.

This fall, Wizz Air became the first airline to receive clearance from the European Aviation Safety Agency, and since the price slump when Europe closed in March, the value of shares has doubled to previous levels.

Reject the Hungarian “Slave Wage”

Another Hungarian who has received massive criticism for trampling on workers’ rights is Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán of the radical right-wing Fidesz party.

In recently enacted law, dubbed the “slave law” by the opposition, gives companies the right to impose 400 overtime hours on employees and defer payment of wages for three years.

Wizz Air is headquartered in Budapest and has 700 employees in the country. Although the ownership structure is located in the Jersey tax haven, the company is often described as Hungarian.

– Do you agree with these reforms?

– We have never used that rule. That does not apply to us.

– But do you agree?

– I am responsible for this company, not for Hungarian politics. We pay people quickly and we don’t impose overtime on people. When it comes to cabin crew, the industry is so regulated that there can be no overtime.

Interested unions

It has been a tradition for cabin crew on Norwegian domestic routes to have Norwegian terms of payment. According to the Norwegian Cabin Association, which organizes employees at SAS, the starting salary for a newly started cabin clerk in Norway is around 300,000 crowns.

If the information on Glassdoor.com about the salary level at Wizz Air is correct, the lowest paid in the company earn less than a third of their Norwegian colleagues.

It’s a good salary in several Eastern European countries, but unions fear that competitors will try to lure Norwegian employees onto domestic routes to win the price war.