Finnair is warning that it might have to cut 90 pilots after industrial action threatened Airbus A330 operations undertaken on behalf of Oneworld partner Qantas.
The A330s were deployed after the closure of Russian airspace forced Finnair to restructure its network and shift the twinjets – which have limited range – away from the lengthened European-Asian routes.
Two of the aircraft are being wet-leased by Qantas for routes from Sydney to Bangkok and Singapore. Finnair says this arrangement enabled it to make “productive use” of the A330s, and offer work to some 90 pilots.
But industrial action by the airline workers’ union SLL, it says, is forcing the carrier to consider difficult measures. The action is linked to collective labour negotiations which have been taking place since last year.
SLL has been engaged in collective negotiations over various aspects, including wages, for around six months, with industrial action conducted over the last three.
“Collective agreement negotiations have been prolonged and for this reason our use of industrial action has also been prolonged,” says SLL chair Vesa Uuspelto.
“The employer’s actions have been aggressive from the beginning and, as a small trade union, we have no other means of defending our rights besides our legal industrial action.”
Extension of the industrial action to include a standby ban, however, threatens to affect not only the A330 flights but also the Helsinki-Bangkok and Helsinki-Singapore flights used by pilots to transfer to them, Finnair argues.
“This impacts Finnair’s ability to operate the flights as agreed, and Finnair has initiated discussions with its partner on future options for the co-operation agreement – with one option being termination of the agreement,” the carrier states.
Finnair is to start negotiations with pilots on 12 February over possible personnel reductions – through cuts or furlough – if the co-operation is amended.
“We have never needed to reduce pilot positions due to operational reasons,” claims Finnair chief people officer Kaisa Aalto-Luoto.
The carrier says the talks will include discussions on introducing standby practice into pilots’ employment contracts.
SLL says that, while the talks have been “difficult”, the two sides reached an agreement at the end of last year over the Sydney operations. The services can be operated by pilots stationed locally rather than in Helsinki.
It states that this Sydney agreement is applicable during the industrial action, and that an overtime ban in March – while applying to Helsinki-Sydney services – will “not apply to arrangements agreed on site in accordance with the [Sydney pact]”.
“[Finnair’s] stated need for change negotiations is completely implausible,” insists Uuspelto. “[We have] protected the Sydney operation throughout the negotiation process and our intention is to ensure the reliability of these operations in the future.”
SLL insists it has been prepared to negotiate renewal of the standby duty arrangement in a “generally binding manner”, and that airline claims of “unwillingness” from the union to adapt its position on standby duty are “completely untrue”.
